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Tag: UMNO

  • Najib Razak: Instigators, Slanderers, Not Promised Heaven

    Najib Razak: Instigators, Slanderers, Not Promised Heaven

    KUALA LUMPUR — In a thinly-veiled reference to critics, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak told Malaysian Muslims today (July 2) that instigators and slanderers will not be guaranteed a spot in heaven no matter how pious they may be.

    “Even if you never miss your prayers, but you are an instigator, slanderous, inciteful and cause disunity, you will not be guaranteed heaven,” Mr Najib said, citing a hadith, or prophetic tradition, that promised heaven to those who can respect each other. He was speaking at a charity event today.

    “And carrying a big badge on your chest will also not guarantee you paradise,” Mr Najib added smilingly, a statement seemingly made against his political foes.

    Mr Najib has come under pressure in recent months, with former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad actively campaigning for his resignation.

    Dr Mahathir has claimed that Barisan Nasional, the ruling coalition, would lose the next general elections if Mr Najib remains its leader.

    Dr Mahathir has also repeatedly criticised Mr Najib’s handling of the state investment firm 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), especially over its reported RM42 billion (S$15 billion) debt. Mr Najib, who is also Finance Minister, is chairman of the firm’s advisory board.

    Dr Mahathir has called Mr Najib’s handling of the 1MDB issue “verging on criminal” during an interview with the New York Times that was published in mid-June and at a forum last month,

    Dr Mahathir called for the people to “acknowledge the crime that is happening here”.

    1MDB is currently being investigated by the Auditor-General and the bipartisan parliamentary Public Accounts Committee over its dealings.

    Mr Najib has steadfastly refused to resign and accused Dr Mahathir of making “insinuations, speaking half-truths, cracking misleading jokes and twisting statements to make his views exciting and palatable”, he wrote in a blog post dated June 12.

    “It is a shame that Dr Mahathir has, yet again, turned against the leadership of his own party. These public attacks will only harm UMNO, the government and ultimately Malaysia.

    “This unbecoming behaviour will be an unfortunate postscript to his legacy,” Mr Najib wrote, referring to the United Malays National Organisation.

     

    Source: www.todayonline.com

  • Dr Mahathir: Under PM Najib, Malaysian Malays Could Suffer Safe Fate As Singapore Malays,

    Dr Mahathir: Under PM Najib, Malaysian Malays Could Suffer Safe Fate As Singapore Malays,

    KUALA LUMPUR, June 21 — After predicting the fall of the Barisan Nasional (BN) government under Datuk Seri Najib Razak, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad is now claiming that if the prime minister stays in power, the Malays here could become marginalised like their Singaporean brethren.

    In a video of a Wednesday forum released online today by blogger Din Turtle, Dr Mahathir was seen reminding his audience that the struggle for the country is not for the personal goals of one man but for the survival of the nation, its race and its religion.

    “I think we are smart people. Do we want to protect Najib? Or do we want to protect the Malays and the country?

    “This is what we have to ask ourselves,” he said in his speech during the forum with several non-governmental organisations (NGOs) at the Perdana Foundation.

    Dr Mahathir cited again the example of the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) controversy, his biggest pet peeve of the Najib government, and said that he found it difficult to imagine how the firm had racked up a RM42 billion debt.

    “Its hard to even imagine RM1 billion… even RM1 million, some Malays don’t recognise… this is RM42 billion,” he said.

    “But if we don’t acknowledge the crime that is happening here, there is a high likelihood that we will lose and we will be divided… And we will suffer the fate of the Malays in Singapore, in southern Thailand and other places.

    “Now we are thankful because we are still in power but if Najib leads the country, we will lose that power in our hands and at that point, there won’t be anyone there to offer us protection,” he said.

    Dr Mahathir has been at the forefront of attacks against the Najib administration and has been actively campaigning for the prime minister’s resignation, believing the latter will lead BN to doom in the next federal polls.

    Among others, Dr Mahathir has attacked Najib over his handling of the controversy surrounding 1MDB, the troubled state-owned firm that has racked up a debt of RM42 billion since its inception in 2009.

    Najib, however, has refused to step down and has responded to Dr Mahathir’s accusations – several times via his blog and once through a pre-recorded interview on TV3.

    Dr Mahathir, however, has refused to relent.

    In his speech at the forum, the outspoken 89-year-old told Najib: “I am aware… I am old. And Najib said why listen to one man when the entire country supports him (Najib)… so why listen to one man?

    “I don’t know if I am one man or I am many. But I request that if we want to save ourselves, we must show the strength of numbers… that is very important.

    “We have to remind everyone that our struggle is not or one man alone. It is for our country, our race, our religion and that is our struggle.”

    Despite Dr Mahathir’s persistence, Najib has fought hard to resist the former’s calls for his resignation, repeatedly responding by saying that he has the support of the leadership in Umno, the country’s ruling party and BN lynchpin.

    In his latest blog post on June 12, Najib fired back at Dr Mahathir, accusing him of using the 1MDB controversy as a ploy to attack him.

    Najib pointed out that if the former prime minister was genuinely interested in getting answers, he only needed to wait for the conclusion of the various investigations by the Auditor-General, Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and Bank Negara on 1MDB.

     

    Source:www.themalaymailonline.com

  • Zaid Ibrahim: Under Najib, Malays Will Become Like Talibans

    Zaid Ibrahim: Under Najib, Malays Will Become Like Talibans

    KUALA LUMPUR, June 21 — If Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak remains in office, the Malays here will become like those living under the repressive rule of the Taliban and not like Singapore’s Malays, former Umno minister Datuk Zaid Ibrahim said.

    Zaid, who was disagreeing with Dr Mahathir’s claim that Najib’s leadership would force the Malays here to become as marginalised as Singapore’s Malays, told the former prime minister that if his assertion were true, he would gladly support Najib.

    “Sorry Tun if under Najib Malays here will become like Spore Malays; I will give him full support. Malays under Najjb will be Talibans,” the former minister wrote on Twitter today.

    “Malays under Najib and Hadi will abandon their culture, traditions and values. Tun M must read my new book Assalamualaikum out in Sept,” he said in another post on the microblogging site.

    In a video of a Wednesday forum released online today by blogger Din Turtle, Dr Mahathir was recorded saying that if Najib stays in power, the Malays here could become marginalised like their Singaporean brethren.

    The former prime minister also remind his audience that the struggle for the country is not for the personal goals of one man but for the survival of the nation, its race and its religion.

    “I think we are smart people. Do we want to protect Najib? Or do we want to protect the Malays and the country?

    “This is what we have to ask ourselves,” he said in his speech during the forum with several non-governmental organisations (NGOs) at the Perdana Foundation.

    Dr Mahathir has been at the forefront of attacks against the Najib administration and has been actively campaigning for the prime minister’s resignation, believing the latter will lead BN to doom in the next federal polls.

    Among others, Dr Mahathir has attacked Najib over his handling of the controversy surrounding 1MDB, the troubled state-owned firm that has racked up a debt of RM42 billion since its inception in 2009.

    Najib, however, has refused to step down and has responded to Dr Mahathir’s accusations — several times via his blog and once through a pre-recorded interview on TV3.

     

    Source: www.themalaymailonline.com

  • Uproar Over Church In Selangor Increases Pressure On Malaysian PM Najib Razak

    Uproar Over Church In Selangor Increases Pressure On Malaysian PM Najib Razak

    An uproar over a protest on Sunday by a group of Muslims in Selangor demanding the removal of the cross of a church has put more pressure on embattled Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak.

    Netizens, politicians and lawyers condemned the protest in a Malay-Muslim majority residential area in Petaling Jaya, and pressed the government to take action against the protesters and protect minority rights.

    Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi yesterday called the protest seditious and vowed that action would be taken against the offenders, contradicting an earlier assertion by the country’s police chief that the protesters’ actions were not seditious.

    “Of course action is to be taken. I am very colour-blind. The police are very colour-blind. Action has to be taken or will be taken against them (the protesters),” Mr Zahid, told the media yesterday.

    About 50 people had gathered outside the new church on Sunday, demanding the removal of the cross affixed to the house of worship on the grounds that it was challenging Islam and could sway the faith of young Muslims. Among those present at the protest was Mr Abdullah Abu Bakar, the older brother of police chief Khalid Abu Bakar, along with several other members of the ruling United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) party.

    The cross was taken down by church leaders a few hours after the protest.

    At a news conference yesterday, Mr Khalid dismissed any suggestions that the protest was seditious. “We do not see it as seditious as it did not touch on Christianity but only on the location of the church,” he said, adding that his brother was present only to help manage the situation.

    Mr Abdullah, an UMNO branch chief, also said in a statement that the UMNO members were present to mediate, adding that they managed to stop some of the more radical residents who had threatened to remove the cross had the church not done so itself.

    This was not the first time a protest has been held against a church.

    In November last year, a Muslim group also organised a demonstration to protest the construction of the four-storey church in Petaling Jaya.

    Ms Haniza Mohamed Talha, an opposition lawmaker of the district where the protest took place, criticised the behaviour of the protesters. “(The protesters) assume that the faith of Muslims is so fragile that just by looking at a cross, they will be driven away from Islam,” she said. The Council of Churches Malaysia claimed the protest was politically-motivated to stir up religious tensions in Selangor.

    In condemning the protest, the council’s general-secretary Dr Hermen Shastri said it was not surprised that such an incident had taken place yet again in the state, which is ruled by the federal opposition coalition, Pakatan Rakyat. “It is obvious that there is a political agenda behind such acts from certain quarters, who are out to instigate and increase inter-religious tensions in the state,” he said. He urged the authorities to “take firm measures against anyone who seeks to disrupt the worship of others, and who seeks to act above the law by imposing their religious views upon people of other faiths, by show of mob force”.

    Mr Tony Pua, a lawmaker from the Democratic Action Party, called on UMNO lawmakers who recently voted in support of the amendments to the Sedition Act to make their stand known to the protesters. “Will the above case only go to show how the Act was constructed strictly targeted against non-Muslims while Muslims who infringed on the rights of others will get away scot-free?” he said.

    Malaysia strengthened its controversial sedition law earlier this month, imposing a minimum jail term of three years and allowing the government to block online media deemed to be seditious. The toughening of the Sedition Act comes after a crackdown in which scores of people have been detained under the law in recent weeks.

    Mr Najib has come increasing pressure in recent months over a series of controversies, including the state investment vehicle 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), which has amassed a RM42 billion (S$15.6 billion) debt.

    Sunday’s protest poses another headache for Mr Najib, following several recent cases that have heightened religious tensions with Malaysia’s Christian minority population. Last week, 320 Malay-language bibles were seized because they used the word “Allah” to refer to God. Earlier this year, Catholic newsweekly Herald was also banned from using the word “Allah” in its publications.

     

    Source: www.todayonline.com

  • Malaysian Parliament Passes Controversial Prevention Of Terrorism Act (POTA)

    Malaysian Parliament Passes Controversial Prevention Of Terrorism Act (POTA)

    The controversial Prevention of Terrorism Act (Pota) Bill was finally passed after nearly 15 hours of debate with 79 votes for and 60 votes against in the Dewan Rakyat early this morning.

    The anti-terrorism law faced considerable opposition and criticism for containing a detention without trial provision, similar to the repealed Internal Security Act (ISA) and came after police arrested 17 suspected militants.

    Lawmakers said Parliament adjourned at 2.26am when the last motion to amend the Pota bill by Segambut MP Lim Lip Eng was defeated with 60 votes for and 79 votes against.

    A subsequent motion to the refer the bill to the full house of the Parliament was passed 79 to 60 while a third reading of the proposed law was also passed 79 to 60.

    The Dewan Rakyat had earlier stopped its clocks before midnight last night to enable the committee stage of the Pota debate to continue since noon yesterday.

    The motion to stop the clock was tabled by the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim and seconded by the Works Deputy Minister Datuk Rosnah Shirlin.

    The Home Minister yesterday said the anti-terror act was nothing like the scrapped ISA.

    Deputy Home Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Wan Jaafar said there were certain provisions in the Pota that differed from the ISA, including its executive powers and power of detention.

    Putrajaya tabled the anti-terror bill last Monday, which empowered authorities to detain terrorist suspects without trial and disallowed judicial reviews on such decisions by a Prevention of Terrorism Board.

    Under the proposed law, suspects can be first detained a maximum of 59 days (including the initial remand period), before being brought to the board, which can then order further detention of up to two years.

    Following this, the detention period can be renewed if the board decides there are reasonable grounds. It can also direct a person to be set free if it deemed necessary.

    The bill does not allow any judicial review in any court, noting that no court shall have jurisdiction over decisions by the board in its discretionary power.

    Critics including Kuala Terengganu MP Datuk Raja Kamarul Bahrin Shah Raja Ahmad and Kelana Jaya MP Wong Chen had raised concerns over the new law, saying that it was just a “reincarnation” of the ISA. – April 7, 2015.

     

    Source: www.themalaysianinsider.com