According to PM Abdullah the appointment of the Menteri Besar (a.k.a Chief Minister) of the state of Terengganu is unconstitutional. The opposition led state of Perak was first in the lime light when DAP's advisor LKS had a row with the Perak Palace. IT has since been settled amicably. Then the goverment led state of Perlis had the same problem. The problem in Perlis is also over, with the ex-MB not attending the new MB's swearing in ceremony.
Now its another government led state -Terengganu (Govt 2 - Opp 1) in terms of having "BIG" problems with their respective Rulers. Just to re-cap, the Sultan of Terengganu is our current King (i.e. Yang DiPertuan Agong). Although he is not involved in this fiasco (since he is some sort of "away" from state duties, now conducting national duties), still the scenario is still comparable to what happened in Perak (i.e. not respecting the Palace).
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Sunday, March 23, 2008
Saturday, March 22, 2008
The Sun - CM: We are also a friend to investors
The Cheif Minister of Penang, insists that they will adopt a positive approach towards invetors. They will implement policies that will give investors all the reasons to invest in Penang. I hope that this will benefit the people of Penang, and raise the living standards of the less fortunate.
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Continue the plot
The Star -PAS welcomes defectors but won’t use cash to entice Barisan MPs
The Islamist opposition party PAS welcomes MP's from ruling coalition to crossover to the opposition. In line with Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's comments, they would not steep so low as to "buy" crossovers. Those intending to crossover must do it with their own conscience.
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Continue the plot
Friday, March 21, 2008
The Star -Don’t cause trouble for Umno, Tengku Razaleigh advised
Tengku Razaleigh (Ku Li), a powerful UMNO figure especially during the 80's has announced his intention for the Presidency of UMNO and with wide spread rumours that this move is with the blessing of Tun Mahathir (his former nemesis). Ku Li has suggested that UMNO convene an EGM to iron out its problems. The suggestion has received mixed feedbacks form UMNO members. It is understood that those at the grassroot level welcome the move but those in the higher echelon (not all, but a significant number I guess) are against the move.
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Continue the plot
NST -Don: No law to prevent party-hopping
There is no law in Malaysia preventing an MP for one party to crossover to another party. Its all about ethics. If you were voted in because of your allegiance with a certain party, then you can be considered "duping" your constituents if you crossover to another party (the premis is the voters vote for the party not the individual). The ethical thing to do is to resign and force a by-election and let the voters decide. However, since politics is the art of possibilities, its anybody's guess.
Link
Link
Reuters -Defections could sink Malaysia govt: Anwar
By Mark Bendeich
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Lawmakers from Malaysia's ruling coalition are willing to defect to the opposition, threatening to drag down the government, de facto opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim said in an interview on Wednesday
Anwar, who made a dramatic political comeback at elections on March 8, told Reuters that Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's coalition was cracking apart and was fast losing support from smaller constituent parties based on Borneo island.
"The sentiments in Sabah and Sarawak are strong with a number of people approaching us," Anwar said, referring to Malaysia's two resource-rich but relatively undeveloped states on Borneo.
"They are approaching us because they realize -- for Sabah and Sarawak -- we have a better deal for them," he said, adding that the opposition would offer them more royalties from Borneo's natural resources, more development and more help for the poor.
"Events are unfolding fast. Things are changing," Anwar said in an interview in the front garden of his office, a bungalow in a leafy suburb of the capital.
The minor parties of Sabah and Sarawak ensured Abdullah's Barisan Nasional (National Front) coalition clung to power in the elections, which gave Abdullah's main ruling party, the United Malaysia National Organisation (UMNO), the fright of its life.
Barisan suffered the heaviest setback in its near-unbroken 50-year reign since independence. It lost its two-thirds majority in federal parliament and surrendered an unprecedented five states to the opposition, including its industrial heartlands.
Barisan now holds a 29-seat majority in the 222-member parliament, razor thin by its own standards. Sabah and Sarawak parties, a world apart from the politics of peninsular Malaysia, delivered 42 seats to Barisan but they failed to get many senior ministries in Abdullah's new cabinet announced on Tuesday.
TROUBLE IN BORNEO PARADISE?
There is widespread talk of grumbling within Barisan's ranks on Boreno, especially in Sabah, but political experts do not feel Anwar could persuade as many as 29 of their MPs to defect.
Sarawak could be particularly hard to crack for Anwar because its chief minister, Abdul Taib Mahmud, is a Barisan stalwart whose son was appointed a deputy minister in the new cabinet.
"I think he's unlikely to get 29," said Zainon Ahmad, the political editor of the local Sun newspaper.
But Anwar said it remained a possibility, though he declined to say how many lawmakers had voiced a willingness to defect.
When asked if it was more than five, he said: "Of course it's more than five." When pressed if it was more than 10, he declined further comment, saying, "We'll come to that."
Asked if the opposition could win enough defections to gain power, he added: "You cannot rule out that possibility."
But the prime minister dismissed this. "Why should the government be toppled? The government is strong," Abdullah later told reporters, then hinted Anwar might be making inducements for MPs to defect. "We don't go around buying the people," he added.
An aide to Anwar, Din Merican, denied this. "We don't buy politicians. It would make a mockery of what we stand for."
Opposition parties won 82 seats, with Anwar's Parti Keadilan Rakyat (People's Justice Party) holding the biggest block of opposition seats at 31. The Democratic Acton Party, which is backed mostly by ethnic Chinese, and the Parti Islam se-Malaysia, an Islamist outfit, make up the rest of the opposition.
Anwar, a former deputy premier, was barred from standing for election on March 8 because of a corruption conviction. He was jailed for about six years until 2004 on corruption and sodomy charges that he said had been cooked up by the government.
Around half of Keadilan's newly elected MPs, including his wife, have offered to resign their seat so that he can come back to parliament through a by-election, he said. Until then, his wife, Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, has been chosen as parliamentary opposition leader, the opposition parties announced on Wednesday.
But Anwar has not ruled out a lawmaker from the prime minister's own party, UMNO, quitting and causing an opportunity for Anwar to contest. Anwar was once UMNO deputy leader and still draws grass-roots support from within the ruling party.
"Don't be surprised if there are by-elections in the UMNO-controlled seats," he said.
(Additional reporting by Niluksi Koswanage; Editing by Bill Tarrant)
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Lawmakers from Malaysia's ruling coalition are willing to defect to the opposition, threatening to drag down the government, de facto opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim said in an interview on Wednesday
Anwar, who made a dramatic political comeback at elections on March 8, told Reuters that Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's coalition was cracking apart and was fast losing support from smaller constituent parties based on Borneo island.
"The sentiments in Sabah and Sarawak are strong with a number of people approaching us," Anwar said, referring to Malaysia's two resource-rich but relatively undeveloped states on Borneo.
"They are approaching us because they realize -- for Sabah and Sarawak -- we have a better deal for them," he said, adding that the opposition would offer them more royalties from Borneo's natural resources, more development and more help for the poor.
"Events are unfolding fast. Things are changing," Anwar said in an interview in the front garden of his office, a bungalow in a leafy suburb of the capital.
The minor parties of Sabah and Sarawak ensured Abdullah's Barisan Nasional (National Front) coalition clung to power in the elections, which gave Abdullah's main ruling party, the United Malaysia National Organisation (UMNO), the fright of its life.
Barisan suffered the heaviest setback in its near-unbroken 50-year reign since independence. It lost its two-thirds majority in federal parliament and surrendered an unprecedented five states to the opposition, including its industrial heartlands.
Barisan now holds a 29-seat majority in the 222-member parliament, razor thin by its own standards. Sabah and Sarawak parties, a world apart from the politics of peninsular Malaysia, delivered 42 seats to Barisan but they failed to get many senior ministries in Abdullah's new cabinet announced on Tuesday.
TROUBLE IN BORNEO PARADISE?
There is widespread talk of grumbling within Barisan's ranks on Boreno, especially in Sabah, but political experts do not feel Anwar could persuade as many as 29 of their MPs to defect.
Sarawak could be particularly hard to crack for Anwar because its chief minister, Abdul Taib Mahmud, is a Barisan stalwart whose son was appointed a deputy minister in the new cabinet.
"I think he's unlikely to get 29," said Zainon Ahmad, the political editor of the local Sun newspaper.
But Anwar said it remained a possibility, though he declined to say how many lawmakers had voiced a willingness to defect.
When asked if it was more than five, he said: "Of course it's more than five." When pressed if it was more than 10, he declined further comment, saying, "We'll come to that."
Asked if the opposition could win enough defections to gain power, he added: "You cannot rule out that possibility."
But the prime minister dismissed this. "Why should the government be toppled? The government is strong," Abdullah later told reporters, then hinted Anwar might be making inducements for MPs to defect. "We don't go around buying the people," he added.
An aide to Anwar, Din Merican, denied this. "We don't buy politicians. It would make a mockery of what we stand for."
Opposition parties won 82 seats, with Anwar's Parti Keadilan Rakyat (People's Justice Party) holding the biggest block of opposition seats at 31. The Democratic Acton Party, which is backed mostly by ethnic Chinese, and the Parti Islam se-Malaysia, an Islamist outfit, make up the rest of the opposition.
Anwar, a former deputy premier, was barred from standing for election on March 8 because of a corruption conviction. He was jailed for about six years until 2004 on corruption and sodomy charges that he said had been cooked up by the government.
Around half of Keadilan's newly elected MPs, including his wife, have offered to resign their seat so that he can come back to parliament through a by-election, he said. Until then, his wife, Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, has been chosen as parliamentary opposition leader, the opposition parties announced on Wednesday.
But Anwar has not ruled out a lawmaker from the prime minister's own party, UMNO, quitting and causing an opportunity for Anwar to contest. Anwar was once UMNO deputy leader and still draws grass-roots support from within the ruling party.
"Don't be surprised if there are by-elections in the UMNO-controlled seats," he said.
(Additional reporting by Niluksi Koswanage; Editing by Bill Tarrant)
NST -Anwar admits meeting BN reps on crossovers, not buyovers
IPOH, Fri: On top of the Sabah and Sarawak BN elected representatives he met, Parti Keadilan Rakyat de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim also held meetings with Peninsular BN representatives on the possibility of defecting to the opposition. But as things stand, PKR is not rushing into the situation.
"I had calls from the East Malaysian states and also Peninsular and even Perak...it is not our tradition to buyover it is the tradition of Umno and Barisan Nasional," he said.
"They must adhere to policies and struggle to see changes in the country if they intend to join us...and if the subject of buying over is raised...discussions would be cancelled."
He was speaking to reporters after making a courtesy call on Perak Menteri Besar Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin at his office here today. Also present were PKR president Datin Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and vice-president Dr Lee Boon Chye. Anwar was asked on the development of the possibility of Sabah and Sarawak MPs to crossover to the opposition party.
"There are developments but we are not rushing into it .. we have time,” he said. “People in Sabah and Sarawak know that the majority of voters in the Peninsular had chosen the opposition party candidates, but if the ink had been used and there was transparency and justice in the postal votes...we would have been in power."
When asked on the reported crossover of a Sarawak MP to PKR, he said, "we will make an announcement on it later."
However, Sarawak United People's Party president Tan Sri Dr George Chan dismissed reports that Serian MP Datuk Richard Riot Jaem had resigned from the party and joined the opposition. Riot's wife Datin Micha Kayen Lingeng also denied that he husband had left the party.
Dr Chan who is a Sarawak Deputy minister was reported as saying that Riot was unhappy when he did not get a Federal Government post. The party nominated him for a parliamentary secretary post but such posts had been abolished in the new Abdullah Administration.
On his comeback through a parliamentary by-election, Anwar said: "I have been asked the question repeatedly…but we have been entrusted with a huge task of administering the five states as the rakyat had chosen us and it is time for us to respond in a positive manner."
"The issue had not cropped up...the first sitting of Parliament is on May 5. Our priority now is to see a resilient and vibrant economy which is a key factor to bring in the revenue for the opposition held states." Perak, Kedah, Penang, Selangor and Kelantan are ruled by opposition parties.
After winning the Permatang Pauh parliament seat for the third term in the March 8 polls, Wan Azizah was reported as saying that they will keep the seat for Anwar. Prior to polling day she had said that she would vacate the seat if she wins for Anwar to contest. There are also talks that PKR’s Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim will give up the Bandar Tun Razak parliamentary seat for Anwar.
"Why are people asking about Permatang Pauh? Why not in Kuala Kangsar or Kepala Batas. Do not discount the possibility," he added. - NST
"I had calls from the East Malaysian states and also Peninsular and even Perak...it is not our tradition to buyover it is the tradition of Umno and Barisan Nasional," he said.
"They must adhere to policies and struggle to see changes in the country if they intend to join us...and if the subject of buying over is raised...discussions would be cancelled."
He was speaking to reporters after making a courtesy call on Perak Menteri Besar Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin at his office here today. Also present were PKR president Datin Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and vice-president Dr Lee Boon Chye. Anwar was asked on the development of the possibility of Sabah and Sarawak MPs to crossover to the opposition party.
"There are developments but we are not rushing into it .. we have time,” he said. “People in Sabah and Sarawak know that the majority of voters in the Peninsular had chosen the opposition party candidates, but if the ink had been used and there was transparency and justice in the postal votes...we would have been in power."
When asked on the reported crossover of a Sarawak MP to PKR, he said, "we will make an announcement on it later."
However, Sarawak United People's Party president Tan Sri Dr George Chan dismissed reports that Serian MP Datuk Richard Riot Jaem had resigned from the party and joined the opposition. Riot's wife Datin Micha Kayen Lingeng also denied that he husband had left the party.
Dr Chan who is a Sarawak Deputy minister was reported as saying that Riot was unhappy when he did not get a Federal Government post. The party nominated him for a parliamentary secretary post but such posts had been abolished in the new Abdullah Administration.
On his comeback through a parliamentary by-election, Anwar said: "I have been asked the question repeatedly…but we have been entrusted with a huge task of administering the five states as the rakyat had chosen us and it is time for us to respond in a positive manner."
"The issue had not cropped up...the first sitting of Parliament is on May 5. Our priority now is to see a resilient and vibrant economy which is a key factor to bring in the revenue for the opposition held states." Perak, Kedah, Penang, Selangor and Kelantan are ruled by opposition parties.
After winning the Permatang Pauh parliament seat for the third term in the March 8 polls, Wan Azizah was reported as saying that they will keep the seat for Anwar. Prior to polling day she had said that she would vacate the seat if she wins for Anwar to contest. There are also talks that PKR’s Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim will give up the Bandar Tun Razak parliamentary seat for Anwar.
"Why are people asking about Permatang Pauh? Why not in Kuala Kangsar or Kepala Batas. Do not discount the possibility," he added. - NST
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