Politics in Malaysia remains the domain of those who are involved within it. If voter turnout in the recent by-elections are anything to go by, one would think that that statement is not true. However, sentiments among the populace are strangely those of resignation, of apathy, of non-commitment. Ask anyone their political affiliation and the answer is a perplexed rebuttal questioning the very role of political affiliation in a country like Malaysia, where Barisan Nasional has been at the helm of power ever since independence and the closest it got to a democratic defeat ended in fists and violence in order to maintain the status quo.
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Various members of Parti Keadilan Rakyat seem to have their hands full these days. Namely, Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim has recently announced his intention to contend for the presidency of the party regardless of the outcome of an appeal to the Registrar of Societies; a potential outcome being that the party be de-registered or suspended should the Registrar not allow Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s appeal and if the former Deputy Prime Minister maintains on regaining the party’s presidency. The party’s current leader, Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, who is also his wife, has already made known that she would resign to accommodate her husband’s ambitions.
It is now March, and the story that was has since completely disappeared. If the entire proceedings were true, then it has gone great lengths to hide itself. If it turns out to be a fabrication, a mere creation of fantasy by an overzealous citizen, then we have all been made fools of ourselves. No matter. We’ve all forgotten about it anyway.
On the 12th of January 2007, popular blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin posted on his own website details of alleged wrongdoings by several parties including a section of the Malaysian Government involving a US$50bil loan. The story was also reported in Malaysiakini. The gist of the matter concerns the use of a company, which is in the process of a winding-up, to obtain the massive loan from 25 prime banks, which in turn would be funneled to the Malaysian Government in its efforts to finance the 9th Malaysian Plan.
The story itself allegedly involves numerous persons, including Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi, Khairy Jamaluddin, certain individuals from Bank Negara as well as other individuals affiliated with the aforementioned company and the financing corporations related to it. There are even details of meetings between some of these individuals down to the time and place, as well as pictures of scanned documents allegedly lining out the deal.
Need we further alienate the immigrants?
Published 21 November 2006 Government & Politics Leave a CommentThe UMNO General Assembly of 2006 ended last week; unlike any other conventional political party of our time, it sparked images of nationalist organizations of old. It was also televised for the much-needed benefit of the Malaysian people, and for once we could observe fully the proceedings which involved racial diatribes and divisive overtones.
