Rilek1Corner

Tag: politicians

  • FAS An Example Of Why Politicians Must Not Interfere With Everything In Singapore

    FAS An Example Of Why Politicians Must Not Interfere With Everything In Singapore

    In the last General Elections, Workers’ Party chairman and MP for Aljunied GRC Sylvia Lim spoke up about how the People’s Action Party “infiltrates every aspect of life” in Singapore, even in our sports associations.

    She said during a fiery rally: “The PAP wants Singaporeans to be dependent on them. But there is more than enough talent in the private sector to drive things,” Ms Lim said in her speech in Jalan Besar. “In fact, Singapore may be able to achieve better results if the PAP would get out of certain areas.”

    One of the best examples she cited was the Football Association of Singapore (FAS), which was headed by political appointees like Zainudin Nordin, who are not surprisingly from the PAP. It is clear to everyone that the standard of Singapore football is not doing well.

    The WP has already pointed out the problem before this FAS-AFF scandal!

    Read her speech here.

    “… the WP differs from the PAP because we do not think that the government should infiltrate every aspect of life. The PAP obviously thinks that they should control everything.

    The PAP places government representatives in all areas of Singapore life, including sports, business and professional groups.

    The PAP wants Singaporeans to be dependent on them. But there is more than enough talent in the private sector to drive things. In fact, Singapore may be able to achieve better results if the PAP would get out of certain areas.

    Let’s take sports. Since we are in Jalan Besar GRC, let’s talk about football!

    In the early days of Singapore’s nationhood, the Singapore football team was a force to be reckoned with on the international stage. Can you imagine that in 1966, Singapore was 4th in the Asian Games, behind only Burma, Iran and Japan? 4th in the whole of Asia, not just South East Asia!

    In the 1970s, the whole nation was rivetted behind our “Boys in Blue” in their quest to win the Malaysia Cup. Everyone had football fever, not just the usual soccer fans, but even grandmothers and housewives too. I remember as a young child, diligently cutting out newspaper articles and pictures of our footballers, and keeping my own scrap book. We fought so hard and mightily, and had bitter disappointments. But finally, in 1977, Singapore beat Penang 3-2 to become Malaysia Cup champions. And I am so proud that the man who headed home the winning goal is here with us tonight, as my personal driver!

    In those days, the Football Association of Singapore was headed by people who were not politicians. They were passionate about the game, and relied on their own networks to bring in coaches and technical expertise. They even poured in their own money at times to achieve their dreams.

    Where is Singapore soccer today?

    According to the rankings by football’s world governing body, FIFA, Singapore dropped from no. 70 in the world in 1993 to a new low this year of 157. We are classified by FIFA as one of the “worst movers” down the rankings. What went wrong?

    The FAS Constitution states that all council members shall first be appointed by a government minister before being confirmed by election. For the last 20 years, the Minister has placed a PAP MP in charge of the football association. Looking at how our rankings have nose-dived over the last 20 years, is this policy working? The Sports Minister should be committing hara kiri!

    I am not belittling the efforts of our current footballers and coaches. It’s the structure I’m questioning.

    Now FIFA has been critically looking at the structure of FAS, as it believes officials of football associations should be freely elected. Just 2 days ago, on September 1st, FIFA told our FAS to put their internal elections on hold over possible government interference.

    It is embarrassing that it takes an international body to highlight a problem that has been simmering for so long. It is time for Singaporeans to take charge of what we care about. Let our passion take us to greatness. We have done it before, and we can do it again!

    Power has made the PAP more and more arrogant. They think they can tell us who should represent us – not just in Parliament, but also in sports, and even in business groups and the professions. They want to control every aspect of life. If we become totally dependent on the PAP, how can Singapore be a dynamic nation?

    This election, we must bring the power back to the people. Send a strong message to the PAP that Singaporeans want to be free from their arrogance, their control, and their threats.

    Empower Your Future! On September 11, Vote for the Workers’ Party!”

     

    Rilek1Corner

    Source: https://www.allsingaporestuff.com

     

  • Malaysia Attorney-General: Non-Muslims Rattled By Increasing Islamisation

    Malaysia Attorney-General: Non-Muslims Rattled By Increasing Islamisation

    NON-MUSLIMS are against Islamic criminal law amendments as they perceive them as another step towards the Islamisation of Malaysia, Attorney-General Mohamed Apandi Ali candidly told The Malaysian Insight yesterday.

    It does not help either that the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965 (or better known by its Bahasa Malaysia acronym, RUU 355) Bill was mooted by PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang, the propagator of hudud laws in Kelantan in the 1990s, with Terengganu following suit later.

    Wading into the issue after Barisan Nasional decided not to table Hadi’s private member’s bill in line with the principle of consensus, Apandi said this issue was always going to be a problem.

    “When Hadi introduced this bill and tried to incorporate the 100 lashes and other severe punishment, the perception of non-Muslims was that hudud is coming, in the guise of the private member’s bill.”

    In fact, Apandi said, RUU 355 was simply to amend the existing Syariah Criminal Law Act to enhance punishments.

    It was also to give Muslims a sense of “feeling good”, as the shariah court currently is even lower than the powers of the magistrate’s court. RUU 355 was to have increased the power of the shariah court  to the position of a Sessions Court.

    “They (non-Muslims), however, read it as the beginning of an Islamic state government like the ones in Iran, Iraq and Syria, despite being told it was not applicable to non-Muslims. That is why the strong resistance.”

    On a personal note, Apandi is relieved that the ruling federal coalition had made a U-turn on RUU 355, as that meant he would not have to draft the amendments to Hadi’s bill, which he felt would have been opposed anyway.

    “When we draft, we have to show that it is a government bill, so in the first place, my office will have to make sure that it is different from Hadi’s draft.

    “So maybe, just maybe, we may exclude Sabah (and Sarawak), to make it different, and even reduce the sentences.

    “On the number of strokes, and even the sentences, I would have probably reduced them.

    “The difference from the current laws which the Syariah Court Criminal Jurisdiction covers, imprisonment is only up to three years. They want to change it to 30 years, such a big disparity.

    “As for fines, currently it is RM1,000, they want to increase it to RM100,000. The disparity is so big. People are going to start questioning the logic behind this.

    “So that is why the perception by the people outside will be ‘Oh, this is definitely going to be hudud’.”

    Apandi also said he had mentioned the matter to BN politicians and they have indicated their concerns to him.

    Many had said it would be difficult for them to explain to their supporters if the government had adopted Hadi’s bill.

    They had also warned that BN could lose seats, especially in Sarawak and Sabah, if the government did not make that RUU 355 U-turn.

    Apandi also feels RUU 355 was more political than legal.

    “The purpose and intention of this is to reap political mileage. Have you heard anybody from the public clamouring for increase of powers of the shariah court? No, nobody asking is asking for it, isn’t it?

    “To my reading, it is mainly political. He (Hadi) has to satisfy the states that have already established hudud laws.

    “People in those states are beginning to question him: ‘Hey, we have the law, why can’t we enforce them? What’s happened?’ He needs to say something to these states. And that is why he is trying to get federal support.

    “So, yes… it’s political!”

     

    Source: www.themalaysianinsight.com

  • PM Najib Razak Courts Middle-Class Muslim Votes With Welcome From “Controversial” Preacher, Mufti Menk

    PM Najib Razak Courts Middle-Class Muslim Votes With Welcome From “Controversial” Preacher, Mufti Menk

    KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysia has rolled out the red carpet for controversial Islamic scholar Ismail Musa Menk, a move that analysts have suggested could be part of efforts by Prime Minister Najib Razak to burnish his Islamic credentials to appeal to middle-class Muslim voters ahead of the general election.

    “(Mufti) Menk is popular among middle-class Malaysian Muslims … and if this is to be read as a political motive, then this … will boost Najib’s popularity with that group,” Dr Norshahril Saat, a Fellow at the Iseas-Yusof Ishak Institute told TODAY.

    The Zimbabwe-born Mufti Menk has more than 2.3 million Facebook fans and 1.3 million Twitter followers who regularly share his positive quotes on life.

    However, the cleric has flirted with controversy: His strong stance against homosexuality led universities in Britain to cancel his speaking tours in 2013 and he had allegedly advised Muslims against wishing others Merry Christmas.

    He was due to give a talk at a religious conference in Singapore in 2015 but his segment was cancelled for “reasons the authorities did not disclose”, according to the organiser.

    Still, Mufti Menk was in Malaysia over the weekend for an Islamic conference where he was one of the keynote speakers.

    Mr Najib hosted a religious talk attended by the preacher at his official residence on Monday night after meeting the latter on Friday, an encounter that the Prime Minister wrote about in his blog. Photos of them were uploaded on both Mr Najib and Mufti Menk’s social media accounts.

    “Victory only comes to those who are most patient,” Mr Najib quoted the preacher in his blog, noting that those were the words that “struck me the most” in their meeting to discuss about Islam, extremism, as well as the plight and welfare of Muslims around the world.

    The Prime Minister referenced the trials and tribulations faced by Prophet Muhammad and said: “This is one of the reasons why that quote by Mufti Menk struck a chord with me. That has been the way of Rasulullah SAW, and must continue to be the way forward for us Muslims.”

    Malaysia’s national polls are not due until next year but Mr Najib is expected to call for snap polls this year after battling issues surrounding state firm 1Malaysia Development Berhad and overcoming efforts by former Malaysian prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad to remove him.

    Throughout last year, Mr Najib’s ruling party, United Malays National Organisation (Umno), increasingly played up the racial and religious cards in a bid to retain the support from the Malays and Bumiputras — a key voting bloc for his party.

    Mr Asrul Hadi Abdullah, a director with political risk consultancy BowerGroupAsia, told TODAY that Mr Najib’s association with Mufti Menk is in line with Umno’s political Islam narrative to capture the Malay community’s votes, as the scholar is popular with the Malay electorate.

    Mr Asrul’s views were echoed by Mr Adib Zalkapli, a political analyst at political risk advisory firm Vriens & Partners, who noted that any association with Mufti Menk is “definitely a vote winner”.

    “Najib is not the first politician to employ this strategy and he won’t be the last. (Former opposition leader) Anwar Ibrahim used the same strategy by getting support from Yusuf Qaradawi when he was on trial for sodomy in 2014,” he said in reference to the renowned Islamic scholar and the head of the Qatar-based International Union for Muslim Scholars.

    Anwar was convicted and jailed for sodomising a former aide, a charge he describes as a politically-motivated attempt to end his career.

     

    Source: www.todayonline.com

  • Walid J Abdullah – An Appeal To The Politicians

    Walid J Abdullah – An Appeal To The Politicians

    Appeal to the Politicians:

    Dear politicians,

    This is not an attempt at analyzing the intricacies of the elections. Nor is this an attempt at a pseudo-intellectual post. And this is most definitely not a ‘politicized’ status (since the ‪#‎sonofsimei‬ is not running for elections).

    This a sincere appeal from a Singaporean.

    —–

    I believe that as a Singaporean, I do not need politicians to show your sincerity by running from house to house – while being recorded – during hustings.

    I do not need you to tell me about a touching email you received from one person you helped before.

    I do not need you to preach to me about ‘knowing the ground’.

    I do not need you to take the bus once to show me that you are a man on the ground.

    I most definitely do not need you to make scathing personal remarks against your political foes (especially when they are not funny or witty, AT ALL!!!!!!!!!).

    I do not need you to say your opponents visit the estate once in every 5 years.

    I do not need you to get down on your knees, smile so much and display a newfound sense of humility ONLY during election time.

    I do not need you to tell me that you need to explain your policies better.

    I do not need you to speak for me, behind closed doors.

    —–

    I do need you to visit my house when it is not election time (and you can walk slowly, don’t have to run).

    I do need you to actually reply to my emails.

    I do need you to listen to what i have to say, so that i can help you understand the ‘ground’ better.

    I do need you to raise transport issues in Parliament – not raise transport costs – even if you do not regularly take the public transport.

    I do need you to display some wits and humour in your speeches in an intelligent manner (seriously, i do not need more colourless characters in my life, what more those who think they are funny when actually they are really talking nonsense).

    I do need you to stop saying your opponents do not show up when i have never/rarely seen you in my neighbourhood before!!!!! (By the way, it is not the duty of un-elected politicians to visit people, though of course, it would factor in our voting decision. But it IS the obligation of elected MPs to visit their wards, and those who are never seen, are skiving!)

    I do need you to be humble in your daily duties. Do not show this humility only during hustings, and then put it back inside the closet for the next 5 years.

    I do need you to understand that when I disagree with your policies, it is because i think they are flawed, not because they have not been explained well-enough.

    I do need you to represent me in Parliament. So that i can take account of who exactly is speaking up for me, and what exactly are the responses given. When i give you my opinion, even if you disagree, listen. And even if you disagree still, bring it up in Parliament. I do hope you do not forget that a huge part of your duty is to represent me in Parliament, so try listening to me more than you try to justify your party’s policies to me.

     

    Source: Walid J. Abdullah

  • Walid J. Abdullah: This Is Politics

    Walid J. Abdullah: This Is Politics

    ‘This is Politics’:

    When a 19 year old says things that you agree with, ‘this kid is really wise beyond his years’.

    When a 19 year old questions your policies, ‘i was once young, idealistic and naive like you.’

    ——

    When you talk about race, it is called ‘minority representation’.

    When your opponent talks about race, it is called ‘communal politics’.

    ——

    When election is near, you mention on stage ‘I received an email from resident A, thanking me.’

    When it is not election time, never mind seeing your face, even emails are ignored.

    ——

    When your opponent raises an important issue, ‘oh we have raised this before’.

    When someone points out that you have not raised it before, ‘oh we raise it behind closed doors’.

    ——

    When your opponent makes a mistake, ‘you must commit harakiri’.

    When your colleague makes a mistake, ‘let us move on’.

    ——

    When your opponent offers money for Singaporeans, ‘this is pork-barrel politics’.

    When you offer multi-million projects – if and only if elected -, ‘it is only right that those who vote for us get these benefits’.

    ——

    When your opponent allegedly indulges in unacceptable behaviour, ‘this is a question of integrity!’

    When your own allegedly indulges in unacceptable behaviour, ‘the mistake was made in good faith’.

    ——

    When your opponents speak up a lot in ‘they didn’t speak enough’.

    When you speak up just once, ‘it was one too many’.

    —–

    When you speak rationally, ‘we need to have the GRCs to ensure minority representation’.

    When you are in la la land, ‘there are no minorities in Singapore: every Singaporean belongs to the majority.’

    —–

    When your opponent changes constituencies, ‘these people are nomads’.

    When son of punggol becomes son-in-law of AMK, son of Hougang is nowhere to be seen, son of Joo Chiat migrates to Punggol, and daughter of Jurong moves to Marsiling, ‘this is strategy’.

    —–

    When comparisons with other countries do not work in your favour, ‘Singapore is a city-state. We cannot compare with other countries. We are unique.’

    When comparisons seemingly work in your favour, ‘Heng ahhhhh!’

    Unfortunately, this is politics.

     

    Source: Walid J. Abdullah