Video for SS2 Ceramah

It was a very good ceramah at SS2, Petaling Jaya on Friday 25 February 2008. If you missed it, it is not too late. Here is a Youtube video of the ceramah:

Ceramah at SS2, Petaling Jaya and other places

Latest updates at DAP for PJ Events

Date: 28 February 2008 (Thursday)

SS2 Petaling Jaya

Ceramah at SS2, Petaling Jaya
Place: Cheow Yang, Field opposite OK Restoran near pasar malam (night market)
Time: 8.00pm

Speakers:
Tony Pua
Lau Weng San
Dr Cheah Wing Yin
Teresa Kok (TBC)

Paramount (New Sea View restaurant)

Time: 8.30pm

Speakers:
Tony Pua
Dr Cheah
Lau Weng San

Date: 29 February 2008 (Friday)

Ceramah at Damansara Jaya, SS2, Petaling Jaya

Place: Restoran Busy Corner (Near KDU/Petronas)
Time: 8.00pm

Speakers:
Tony Pua
Dr Cheah
Lau Weng San

Ceramah at Sea Park (Section 21) Petaling Jaya

Place: Khong Restaurant, Jalan 21/11B
Time: 8.00pm

Ceramah at SS2: Short Report Part 1

There were many speakers and unfortunately I do not have a voice recorder and did not take notes, so just summarizing what I can:

Haris Ibrahim, Human Rights Lawyer and People's Parliament creator

From memory so my own version of what I rememberedL "When I was fooled by Abdullah Badawi's promises, my greatest hope was the will clean up the Judiciary (courts, judges) because that is the last bastion of democracy. When our Executive, our Parliament, our enforcement agencies failed us, that is our last resort for remedy."

Haris was a lawyer in the recently concluded Royal Commission on the VK Lingam tape. He expressed his frustrations at the proceedings.

By the way, Haris Ibrahim is one of only two Malay who signed the OHMSI pledge against corruption. OHMSI is short for Oriental Hearts and Mind Study Institute initiated by KJ John. See rolling list of names at bottom left of page.

Ceramah at SS3 Pasar Malam, Petaling Jaya

There will be a ceramah by DAP at SS3 Petaling Jaya Pasar Malam.

Date: 26 February 2008 (Tuesday)
Time: 8.00 pm
Location: Restoran Siong Pin, Road SS3/31, Petaling Jaya

Speakers: Not announced yet but likely will be PJ Utara Parliamentary candidate Tony Pua Kiam Wee and Kampung Tunku state candidate Lau Weng San

Hopefully you can get updates at DAP for PJ events plus other (daily) activities.

Yesterday, I attended the Ceramah at SS2 Petaling Jaya re PJ Utara Constituency (click BACK button to get back to this page) and heard some very interesting talk by Haris Ibrahim (Human Rights lawyer, creator of numerous citizens' initiatives including People's Parliament, Boycott MSM (main stream newspapers), etc.) Y. B. Lim Kit Siang, Tony Pua, Lau Weng San, Dr. Cheah Wing Ying and one more. You should not miss this.

More details about other


26.2.08 (Tue) 8.00pm Ceramah SS3
Restoran Siong Pin, Jalan SS3/31

Ceramah at SS2 Petaling Jaya re PJ Utara Constituency

I will be attending this ceramah tonight:

Date: 25 February 2008 (Monday)
Time: 8.00 pm
Place: MJ Cafe (Next to Hong Leong Bank)
Address: Road SS2/63

If I am not wrong, this is opposite the Bata shop and along the same row as Eu Yan San Chinese herbal medicine shop and former Thomas and Guys Hairdresser Saloon, but at the opposite end. It is also near the Police Station and the BP Station (may have changed name).

Speakers list:
- Lim Kit Siang
- Tony Pua
- Dr Cheah Wing Yin
- Lau Weng San
- Haris Ibrahim

I already have made up my mind how to vote, vote against Barisan which have abused their two third majority in Parliament (click BACK button to get back to this page) and will be there mainly to listen to Haris Ibrahim, Human Rights lawyer and creator of People's Parliament (Get to know your MP).

* Note: There is a pasar malam in the same area so either park in the SS2 housing area and walk over, or in the big open-air carpark right next to the ceramah venue.

Support DAP candidates, nomination day, assembly point, map

Tomorrow is nomination days for the candidates for the PJ (Petaling Jaya) Utara Constituency. Nomination center is on

Date : Sunday 24th February 2008
Time : 8:00 am
Venue : SRJK(C) Puay Chai, Road SS2/53, Petaling Jaya

Below is the map showing the location of the nomination center:

Location map of nomination center and assembly point for DAP candidates' supporters

The assembly point for DAP (Democratic Action Party) supporters is at a playground between SS2/54 and 19/40. Road, SS2/53 is closed to traffic, get there from Road SS2/57 (and the roads after that) or from Jln 21/3 on the other side.

Supporters are encouraged to wear Come in DAP T-shirts, caps, badges, umbrellas. You can get them at the DAP Selangor at number 77, Road 20/9, Paramount Garden, Petaling Jaya if you dont have any.

DAP 2008 General Elections Theme Song

DAP 2006 General Elections Theme Song

Lyrics of theme song for the Malaysia's 12th General Elections, 2008 by Tony Pua Kiam Wee:

DAP 2006 General Elections Theme Song

Just change for Malaysia, just change for Malaysia, just change, we will overcome, just change, We will see the sun.

Together, all races stand as one. Together, we will never run. Together, it's like never before. Together, what we are fighthing for.

Just change for Malaysia, just change for Malaysia, just change, we will overcome, just change, we will see the sun,

Corruption, we will stop the drain. Senseless crime, we will end the pain. Inflation, we will also tame. Together, we will rise again.

Just change for Malaysia, just change for Malaysia, just change, we will overcome, just change, We will see the sun.

We will fight for our rights to be free. For equality, justice, we will defend. Leaders must have integrity.

Forever, Malaysians must come first.

And never, will we be coerced.

Remember, if we vote wisely, together, we will make history.

Just change for Malaysia, Just change for Malaysia, Just change, we will overcome. just change, We will never run.

Just change for Malaysia, Just change for Malaysia, Just change, we will overcome. just change, We will see the sun.

JUST CHANGE.

DAP needs donations for election campaign

The Barisan component parties are very well funded. Campaign helpers, polling agents and counting agents are paid. Further, they are treated to big, sumptuous dinners, and I have been told that at these dinners, envelopes containing money are handed out to dinners. The Barisan because they are the ruling coalition, can hand out patronage.
Because of such financial and other incentives, the Barisan are never short of funds and campaign workers.

DAP (Democratic Action Party) is in a different situation. For various obvious reasons, the party is not rich. They are short of campaign funds.

Donation to campaign funds for DAP Candidates for Petaling Jaya

Donations to campaign funds or Petaling Jaya DAP election candidates can be made to Maybank2U. Donations can be made to:

Account Number: 0141 7813 0026
Account Holder: DAP Paramount Garden

If you need a receipt, you can fax your transaction statement, name, contact details to

603-7957 5718

or email lauwengsan@gmail.com

You can also donate by cash or check at DAP Paramount which is opposite and a few houses away from the DAP headquarter. You will easily recognize it by flags sporting the DAP's Rocket symbol. Below is a map to DAP headquarter:

Map to Lau Weng San's Service Center which is also DAP's Headquarter

Another website for online donation which includes payment by credit cards is DAP for Petaling Jaya, Donation where you can choose to the campaign fund for PJ Utara Parliamentary Constituent (including the state seat of Kampung Tunku and Damansara Utama) or specifically to the state seat of Bukit Gasing.

Donation by cash or check

1. Petaling Jaya Utara Constituency (incl. Kg Tunku and Damansara Utama)

You may deposit your cash or cheque donations to:

Account Name: DAP Damansara
Bank: Malayan Banking Berhad (Damansara Utama Branch)
Account Number: 5141 9634 2008

Location map of Tony Pua's Service Center which is also the DAP Damansara Utama's branch office

2. Alternatively, you can address and post your cheques to:

DAP Damansara Branch
55M Jalan SS21/1A
Damansara Utama
47400 Petaling Jaya
Selangor

For donations to Bukit Gasing, please write cheques to "Lee Poh Lin"

Interview: Billi Lim, candidate for Bukit Bintang Parliamentary Constituent

I was very disappointed when I read the news of the possibilities of a four-corner or more election contest in the Bukit Bintang Parliamentary Constituent in theStar, front page, page 2 and three. It was reported that Billi Lim of "Dare to Fail" has confirmed he will contesting for the Bukit Bintang Parliamentary Constituent in the coming 12th Malaysian General Election. That means it is highly likely to be a four-corner contest and the opposition votes is going to be badly split. He claimed to have a 50-50 chance of winning. He said he has formed the United National Independent Front (UNIF) which I found out later will not be a political party. It is also to encourage more youths to contest as Independents in elections, which shocked me.

I asked for an urgent appointment to have a discussion with him and he kindly consented. We met this morning over a drink. We agreed that I will talk first, he listen, then he talk and I listen. I started first by elaborating on my viewpoint before stating my reason why he should not contest as an independent candidate.

Major objective of 2008 Malaysia's General Election should be to deny the Barisan that crucial two-third majority in Parliament

I started off with the statement that we are on the same side - "Something is wrong" and gave my opinion that the immediate objective of the impending election should be to deny the Barisan that crucial two-third majority in Parliament. They have abused this two-third majority to amend the Malaysian Constitution a total of 690 times according to WHY Barisan Nasional's TWO-THIRD (2/3) MAJORITY MUST BE DENIED by MALAYSIANS. I suspect that each amendments contained within each amendment were counted as a separate amendment because I remembered (please not that this is from memory) from more authoritative source that there were more than 40 amendments, and each amendment contain multiple amendments. This PDF document Human rights and the Malaysian constitution examined through the lens of the Internal Security Act 1960 which is probably published around 2001 from its URL seemed to strengthen my faith in my memory. It is stated in that article by Poh-Ling Tan that the Malaysian Constitution has been amended 41 times from 1957 to 1996, of which some, in the words of Poh-Ling Tan, "were made in response to various political tensions." Now the Constitution is the supreme law in a democracy and is a sacred document not to be amended for trivial reasons, only for matters of great importance. Recently, we saw the Constitution hurriedly amended to extend the retirement age of the Chairman of Malaysia's Election Commission from 65 to 66 years. Many said this was to allow the former and current Chairman, Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman who recently retired to serve as the Chairman during this crucial election. Although it was denied, and Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman had stated that he may not want to extend his term, he did.

Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman has made rulings like "it is not bribery as long as the funds are not disbursed by the candidate. This was regarding the Barisan government pouring huge amount of public funds into two Constituents involved in recent by-elections. I do not know the law, but it seem grossly unfair as it clearly benefited the candidate from the ruling Barisan. Further Rockybru alias Athirudin bin Attan did not registered as a voter at all, but found that he was registered in Rapat Setia when he had never been nor lived there before. See Excuse me, WTF registered me as a voter?. Rockybru made a police report, but complained that till today, he never receive any acknowledgement from either the Police nor the Election. See Clean Electoral Roll?. In the same post, I saw that another voter Ang Lai Im, 36, was registered as a voter when she never registered as one. This, the post said, was reported in the Malay Mail.

I interviewed a Member of Parliament (now dissolved), and my first question was, "how can a Barisan MP represent the constituent when all Barisan Members of Parliaments are under the whip all the time. That is, they have to vote for anything proposed by the Barisan and vote against all proposals from the opposition. The answer was "anything before they are tabled before the Parliament has to go through a long process of consultations. The Cabinet members are consulted, the Non-government organizations (NGO's) are consulted, and the stake holders are consulted."

When this bill to suddenly tabled at the Parliament to extend the retirement age of the Malaysian's Election Commission Chairman much to the surprise of many, I requested for an urgent appointment. Kindly granted. I asked, "in this case, did any consultation take place, and if so, for how long and who were consulted. The Barisan Member of Parliament (then) replied that when this consultation issue was raised, the MP was only referring to the MP's Ministry. Now to me, this clearly showed that the bill to amend the Constitution did not go through any consultation at all. The tabling of the bill to form the Special Complaints Commission (SCC) to replace the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) (click BACK button to get back to this page) caught many who should know by surprise, and this again reinforced the views that bills and proposals tabled at the Parliament often do not go through any real consultations.

Now should we allow the Barisan to continue to keep their two-third majority in Parliament so that they can amend the sacred Constitution at will, whims and fancies?

I went on to say that I have questioned the DAP (Democratic Action Party) if their Member of Parliaments are subject to similar whip. This I heard direct from both Y.B. Lim Kit Siang and Lim Guan Eng. If an issue is related to Party policy or what had been stated in the election manifesto, their MP must vote according to party line. If the issue is an issue of conscience, for example, an issue related to religion, a Christian DAP MP and a Hindu DAP are allowed to vote according to conscience. I have also heard from Y.B. Lim Kit Siang's Parliamentary, Mr. Lau Weng San, also likely candidate for Kampung Tunku state seat (click BACK button to get back to this page), he also added that the DAP have voted with the Barisan when it was in the nation's interest to do so. This is a far cry from the tightly bound Barisan MP who MUST vote against anything coming from the oppositions, irrespective of merits. And we have seen many proposals from the opposition of great national importance being turned down.

The Barisan has become very arrogant since they have had that important two-third majority for so long. Now isn't doing our best to deny the Barisan that crucial two-third majority and to do our best to avoid splitting the opposition votes the most important thing for this coming general election?

Other thing I brought up was Ralph Nader, one Independent candidate who had lost of publicity, lots of supporter, contested many times and never win any. To me, he was one Independent who had the best chance at winning, and yet his lost all. Wikipedia even have a paragraph "In the 2000 presidential election in Florida, George W. Bush defeated Al Gore by 537 votes. Nader received 97,421 votes. Proponents of this argument claim that Nader pulled votes from Al Gore, and this tilted the election in Bush's favor. The claim is that this was Nader's "greatest impact" on the election. Nader himself, both in his book Crashing the Party, and on his website, states: "In the year 2000, exit polls reported that 25% of my voters would have voted for Bush, 38% would have voted for Gore and the rest would not have voted at all."[24] Assuming these poll numbers are correct, the 13% plurality would have given Gore a victory in Florida and the presidency." That is blaming Ralph Nader for Bush winning. Although obvious that was not his objective, it was a consequence of his action. I asked Billi if he wanted to be blamed for handing the seat to the Barisan.

Now here is Billi Lim's piece. I have told him I am not a trained journalist and have no assistant while he has and requested that he send me a copy of the discussion to me so accuracy can be maintained. Unfortunately, the request was turned down. So I have to go on memory and have to send the URL of this post to him to comment.

UPDATE 8.36am 23 February 2008: Billi's response by email has been reproduced at the bottom of the post in full including some information from a recent telephone conversation.

Mr. Billi Lim asked me, is it not the right for anyone to stand as a candidate? I answered yes, but rights come with responsibilities. And those responsibilities including not causing problems which in this case, in my opinion, is not splitting opposition votes (I had pleaded with him to negotiate with the other parties to try to avoid that).

Billi Lim says he has a platform, a plan, and he exude much confidence. He said he have appeared in the mainstream mass media many times and are well known to the people. He pointed out to the report in theStar as an example. I responded that could it be possible that perhaps the Barisan wanted that because they want to encourage him to stand so that the opposition votes will be split. He also said that he has gone through many elections and have seen many things, infighting in political parties, etc. I responded that it is natural because parties are formed by human, and that is hard to avoid. However, that should not prevent us from trying to achieve that most important objective of denying the Barisan that crucial much abused two-third majority in the Parliament. He said all the political parties are racial based while his platform is multi-racial and include Malays. I pointed out to the BERSIH T-shirt I was wearing and commented that the BERSIH T-shirt had also drawn a lot of positive reaction from Malays. He said that all the political party leaders are promoting their own sons, daughters, brother, etc. I responded that perhaps in some cases, it may be because they are trying to pass on the fame of some leaders to those that follow them.

Now the rest I forgot, but here is my opinion: I have listened and accepted one thing he said, that the way I say things can antegonize people and cause them not to listen, the rest I have responded and you form your own opinion. However, however hard I tried, it was very hard to get him to see my point of view because many times when I tried to respond to his statement, he said "no, no, no" and I was unable to continue.

Now I am going to publish this, send this post URL to Billie and wait for his response.

Billi Lim's response and a bit more

His email response is reproduced in full here: "Finally I recd yr email. There is something which you have accused me wrongly. IT IS NOT MY RESPONSIBILITY TO SEND YOU A REPORT OF OUR DISCUSSION. YOU ARE THE REPORTER, NOT ME. Further it is NOT me who asked for the meeting. You were supposed to email me to review yr report but unfortunately it only reaches me today. RE yr write up, you have not put forward my full response . You only put forward the report to convince readers of the correctness of your views which is only one-sided. I m very surprised that you said that there is one thing you have agreed with me & learned ,i.e. TO PRESENT PROPERLY. Looks like there is much that you need to learn. If you continue like this you will become a liability to the movement that you are trying to represent. By the way, even though I hv given you my name card, you have spelled it wrongly. Billi don’t hv an ‘e’."

Note: If I remembered correctly, that spelling was taken from theStar (trained reporter or journalist while I am not). Anyway, wherever I found that spelling mistake, I have corrected it. Regarding responsibility of publishing the report, I agree that it is my responsibility, but I am no reporter, journalist or secretary and cannot write shorthand. I also have not invested in a voice recorder. I had hoped that Billi will help as obviously he can remember better what he said and so should be able to give a more accurate account of what transpired. What I have given above is what I can remember and I can do no more unless those I forgot pop into my mind again.

Billi Lim, possible candidate for the Bukit Bintang Parliamentary Constituent

I was very disappointed when I read the news of the possibilities of a four-corner or more election contest in the Bukit Bintang Parliamentary Constituent in theStar, front page, page 2 and three. It was reported that Billi Lim of "Dare to Fail" has confirmed he will contesting for the Bukit Bintang Parliamentary Constituent in the coming 12th Malaysian General Election. That means it is highly likely to be a four-corner contest and the opposition votes is going to be badly split. He claimed to have a 50-50 chance of winning. He said he has formed the United National Independent Front (UNIF) which I found out later will not be a political party. It is also to encourage more youths to contest as Independents in elections, which shocked me.

I asked for an urgent appointment to have a discussion with him and he kindly consented. We met this morning over a drink. I started first my viewpoint.

Major objective of 2008 Malaysia's General Election should be to deny the Barisan that crucial two-third majority in Parliament

I started off with the statement that we are on the same side - "Something is wrong" and gave my opinion that the immediate objective of the impending election should be to deny the Barisan that crucial two-third majority in Parliament. They have abused this two-third majority to amend the Malaysian Constitution a total of 690 times according to WHY Barisan Nasional's TWO-THIRD (2/3) MAJORITY MUST BE DENIED by MALAYSIANS. I suspect that each amendments contained within each amendment were counted as a separate amendment because I remembered (please not that this is from memory) from more authoritative source that there were more than 40 amendments, and each amendment contain multiple amendments. This PDF document Human rights and the Malaysian constitution examined through the lens of the Internal Security Act 1960 which is probably published around 2001 from its URL seemed to strengthen my faith in my memory. It is stated in that article by Poh-Ling Tan that the Malaysian Constitution has been amended 41 times from 1957 to 1996, of which some, in the words of Poh-Ling Tan, "were made in response to various political tensions." Now the Constitution is the supreme law in a democracy and is a sacred document not to be amended for trivial reasons, only for matters of great importance. Recently, we saw the Constitution hurriedly amended to extend the retirement age of the Chairman of Malaysia's Election Commission from 65 to 66 years. Many said this was to allow the former and current Chairman, Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman who recently retired to serve as the Chairman during this crucial election. Although it was denied, and Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman had stated that he may not want to extend his term, he did.

Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman has made rulings like "it is not bribery as long as the funds are not disbursed by the candidate. This was regarding the Barisan government pouring huge amount of public funds into two Constituents involved in recent by-elections. I do not know the law, but it seem grossly unfair as it clearly benefited the candidate from the ruling Barisan. Further Rockybru alias Athirudin bin Attan did not registered as a voter at all, but found that he was registered in Rapat Setia when he had never been nor lived there before. See Excuse me, WTF registered me as a voter?. Rockybru made a police report, but complained that till today, he never receive any acknowledgement from either the Police nor the Election. See Clean Electoral Roll?. In the same post, I saw that another voter Ang Lai Im, 36, was registered as a voter when she never registered as one. This, the post said, was reported in the Malay Mail.

I interviewed a Member of Parliament (now dissolved), and my first question was, "how can a Barisan MP represent the constituent when all Barisan Members of Parliaments are under the whip all the time. That is, they have to vote for anything proposed by the Barisan and vote against all proposals from the opposition. The answer was "anything before they are tabled before the Parliament has to go through a long process of consultations. The Cabinet members are consulted, the Non-government organizations (NGO's) are consulted, and the stake holders are consulted."

When this bill to suddenly tabled at the Parliament to extend the retirement age of the Malaysian's Election Commission Chairman much to the surprise of many, I requested for an urgent appointment. Kindly granted. I asked, "in this case, did any consultation take place, and if so, for how long and who were consulted. The Barisan Member of Parliament (then) replied that when this consultation issue was raised, the MP was only referring to the MP's Ministry. Now to me, this clearly showed that the bill to amend the Constitution did not go through any consultation at all. The tabling of the bill to form the Special Complaints Commission (SCC) to replace the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) (click BACK button to get back to this page) caught many who should know by surprise, and this again reinforced the views that bills and proposals tabled at the Parliament often do not go through any real consultations.

Now should we allow the Barisan to continue to keep their two-third majority in Parliament so that they can amend the sacred Constitution at will, whims and fancies?

I went on to say that I have questioned the DAP (Democratic Action Party) if their Member of Parliaments are subject to similar whip. This I heard direct from both Y.B. Lim Kit Siang and Lim Guan Eng. If an issue is related to Party policy or what had been stated in the election manifesto, their MP must vote according to party line. If the issue is an issue of conscience, for example, an issue related to religion, a Christian DAP MP and a Hindu DAP are allowed to vote according to conscience. I have also heard from Y.B. Lim Kit Siang's Parliamentary, Mr. Lau Weng San, also likely candidate for Kampung Tunku state seat (click BACK button to get back to this page), he also added that the DAP have voted with the Barisan when it was in the nation's interest to do so. This is a far cry from the tightly bound Barisan MP who MUST vote against anything coming from the oppositions, irrespective of merits. And we have seen many proposals from the opposition of great national importance being turned down.

The Barisan has become very arrogant since they have had that important two-third majority for so long. Now isn't doing our best to deny the Barisan that crucial two-third majority and to do our best to avoid splitting the opposition votes the most important thing for this coming general election?

Other thing I brought up was Ralph Nader, one Independent candidate who had lost of publicity, lots of supporter, contested many times and never win any. To me, he was one Independent who had the best chance at winning, and yet his lost all. Wikipedia even have a paragraph "In the 2000 presidential election in Florida, George W. Bush defeated Al Gore by 537 votes. Nader received 97,421 votes. Proponents of this argument claim that Nader pulled votes from Al Gore, and this tilted the election in Bush's favor. The claim is that this was Nader's "greatest impact" on the election. Nader himself, both in his book Crashing the Party, and on his website, states: "In the year 2000, exit polls reported that 25% of my voters would have voted for Bush, 38% would have voted for Gore and the rest would not have voted at all."[24] Assuming these poll numbers are correct, the 13% plurality would have given Gore a victory in Florida and the presidency." That is blaming Ralph Nader for Bush winning. Although obvious that was not his objective, it was a consequence of his action. I asked Billie if he wanted to be blamed for handing the seat to the Barisan.

Now here is Billie Lim's piece. I have told him I am not a trained journalist and have no assistant while he has and requested that he send me a copy of the discussion to me so accuracy can be maintained. Unfortunately, the request was turned down. So I have to go on memory and have to send the URL of this post to him to comment.

UPDATE 8.45am Saturday 23 November 2008: Billi Lim's response by email reproduced verbatim in full at bottom of post plus a bit from recent telephone conversation.

Mr. Billie Lim asked me, is it not the right for anyone to stand as a candidate? I answered yes, but rights come with responsibilities. And those responsibilities including not causing harm.

Billie Lim says he has a platform, a plan, and he exude much confidence. He said he have appeared in the mainstream mass media many times and are well known to the people. He pointed out to the report in theStar as an example. I responded that could it be possible that perhaps the Barisan wanted that because they want to encourage him to stand so that the opposition votes will be split. He also said that he has gone through many elections and have seen many things, infighting in political parties, etc. I responded that it is natural because parties are formed by human, and that is hard to avoid. However, that should not prevent us from trying to achieve that most important objective of denying the Barisan that crucial much abused two-third majority in the Parliament. He said all the political parties are racial based while his platform is multi-racial and include Malays. I pointed out to the BERSIH T-shirt I was wearing and commented that the BERSIH T-shirt had also drawn a lot of positive reaction from Malays. He said that all the political party leaders are promoting their own sons, daughters, brother, etc. I responded that perhaps in some cases, it may be because they are trying to pass on the fame of some leaders to those that follow them.

Now the rest I forgot, and I am going to publish this, send this post URL to Billi and wait for his response.

Billi Lim's response via email: "Finally I recd yr email. There is something which you have accused me wrongly. IT IS NOT MY RESPONSIBILITY TO SEND YOU A REPORT OF OUR DISCUSSION. YOU ARE THE REPORTER, NOT ME. Further it is NOT me who asked for the meeting. You were supposed to email me to review yr report but unfortunately it only reaches me today. RE yr write up, you have not put forward my full response . You only put forward the report to convince readers of the correctness of your views which is only one-sided. I m very surprised that you said that there is one thing you have agreed with me & learned ,i.e. TO PRESENT PROPERLY. Looks like there is much that you need to learn. If you continue like this you will become a liability to the movement that you are trying to represent. By the way, even though I hv given you my name card, you have spelled it wrongly. Billi don’t hv an ‘e’."

From recent phone conversation: Billi says he now will no longer contest in Bukit Bintang, but probably in Kelana Jaya and/or Subang where he said the candidates are not up to standard. I pleaded with him again to see if he can work out something with the opposition, either he giving way or standing on an opposition platform. He passed that back to me and said I should approach the oppositions. Now I don't have that close contact with the oppositions and there is so little time plus I have lots of things to do, but I will try.

Waris Bukan Bumiputera. Who are the?

Here is a screenshot taken from Another instance of rise of Little Napoleons and Little Mullah Napoleons. The letter from Zainal Arifin bin Zakaria, Guru Besar (Headmaster), Sekolah Kebangsaan Sungai Puyu, 13020 Butterworth, is addressed to "semua Waris Bukan Bumiputera".



Someone asked me to verify the authenticity of the letter, and I will try but do not know if I will able to do so or not as I am no journalist or detective. Let us see if I am going to be able to update this post or not.

If authentic, then my next question is, what is Warisan Bukan Bumiputera? This the first time I heard of the phrase.

Anyone willing to help?

Check your voter registration status, polling center , voting stream

Malaysia's 12th General Election 2008 (click BACK button to get back to this page) is on and it is important to check your voter registration status to ensure that you still registered, that you are in the Constituent where you have registered to vote. You can do that at either

Checking of electoral roll for 12^th General Election (and polling station plus polling stream)

Even if you have checked before, new information has recently been added to show which polling station you will be voting in plus which stream (room). In addition, if you want, you can print a hard copy (paper), but I would suggest you use Cute PDF writer which you can download for free (2 downloads will be involved). I have been using the free Cute PDF writer to print digital copies of online payment receipt, AutoCAD drawings, Microsoft Word documents, etc., all without use of precious paper and ink, an environmentally friendly way, easily filed away in convenient folders in computer, backed up online in Yahoo briefcase, etc. If you don't know how to download, install and use Cute PDF writer, comment and ask and I will publish a special post to give clear instructions on what to do.

To check your status, there is an alternative website (actually same but different URL) http://202.190.126.62/daftarbi.asp.

Below is a screenshot of what you will get after typing in your MyKad (Identity Card) number without space of dash - where those in red are data added recently:

Citizens' initiative to monitor media's coverage of General Election

Malaysia's Election 2008: 12th General Election

The Election Commission has announced that nomination date for the 12th General Election will be 24 February 2008 (Sunday) and polling date will be 8 March 2008

Nomination day are set for political parties and individuals to nominate candidates for 12th general election and polling day will be the day set for registered voters to cast their votes.

Malaysian Parliament dissolved. Election soon

The Prime Minister of Malaysia, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi made the announcement that Parliament has been dissolved today 13 February 2008. This means that the Malaysian 12th general election will be on soon. The announcement was made at a last minute press conference at the Prime Minister' office this afternoon.

Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said he had already met the Yang Di Pertuan Agong in the morning and consent to dissolve Parliament had already been given by His Majesty. The Parliament and the Election Commission had also been informed and the state assemblies had also been advised to dissolve.

The Election Commission Chairman, Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman said announcement of the date for polling and election will be announced tomorrow.

Source:

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/2/13/nation/20080213120834&sec=nation

DAP Chinese New Year Open House

DAP Malaysia (Democratic Action Party Malaysia) will have their Chinese New Year Open House on Sunday, 17 February 2008 at the Damansara Utama Community Hall and all are invited. A map to Damansara Utama Community Hall has been uploaded to help you find your way there. Details are as follows:

You and your organization, political party or company are cordially invited to attend DAP Malaysia National Chinese New Year Open House.

Date: 17th February 2008
Time: 10am to 1pm
Contact: 03-79578022
Location: Damansara Utama Community Hall
Jalan SS21/9
Petaling Jaya
Selangor
Malaysia

Scrap Special Complaints Commission (SCC or fake IPCMC)

A Facebook group Scrap Special Complaints Commission (SCC or "fake IPCMC)

I posted a message in the Discussions of fast growing Facebook group Deny Barisan National A 2/3 Majority in the Upcoming Election! hoping to get members to join the first group, and this was the response from one member:

"I really wish you can answer the 6 questions, please note I'm NOT asking Lim Guan Eng's perspective, as the creator of "scrap SCC", you MUST be able to answer them at any time, because the answer should be on your finger tip. If not, how do you expect other to relate to your cause."

Now my response to his response:

OK,

From own ears and mouth plus MEMORY:

There are many concerned Malaysians demanding a special body be set up to handle complaints against Police some of whom (this is from mouth of lawyers who deal with those detained) have been accused of abuse, physical plus verbal, of those detained. You must have also heard complaints of corruption or maybe even came across it before. It is of great importance that public have confidence in the Police and therefore one more objective is to help clear those Police wrongly accused. That was how the pressure groups got the government to set up the Royal Commission to study this matter. All very noble.

Again from the mouth of one of the member of the Royal Commission, they took their sacred duties very seriously, traveled all over the places, did a lot of hard work, and finally came up with a very comprehensive report with, if I remember correctly, 100 plus recommendations, some very crucial. They recommended setting up of the IPCMC (Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission.)

The Executive (Cabinet headed by Prime Minister) sat on the report for years, then out of the blues, a bill was hastily tabled in the Parliament to set up the Special Complaints Commission (SCC) instead the IPCMC (more about this later), and this, with election just around the corner. 3 members of the Royal Commission came out in public to voice their utter disgust. Tunku Aziz described the SCC as in insult and a slap in the face. He said the most crucial recommendations had been left out, one of which is that no serving or retired Police should be appointed to the IPCMC. Now this is from my ears direct from a former member of Royal Commission, but from memory as I am not a trained journalist or reporter. You know who are supposed to sit in the SCC (or fake IPCMC)? The IGP (Inspector General of Police) and the head honcho of the ACA (Anti Corruption Agency). This means we are going to get a Commission to deal with its own misdeed, if any. Now if there is any basis for complaints against the IGP, anybody wants to bring that to the attention of the SCC on which the IGP himself sits in? Can someone be expected to "police" himself or those belonging to his own agency?

One more thing, again direct from mouth of the Chairman of the Malaysia Bar Human Rights committee (Malaysia Bar is the body to which all practicing lawyers must be members), Edmund Bon, described the SCC as a post box. What it does is to receive complaints, study it, and then forward it to whatever department they consider relevant to further act on it. The SCC has no power. It just add another layer of bureaucracy plus extra time and cost, and actually does not do much, but act as a "post box" to which "mails" are sent and redirected (now I think a more accurate description would be a "telephone exchange" or the "Post Office sorting room"). Now will the SCC do what the pressure groups wants done? To control abuse and corruption within the Police plus clear Police who genuinely had been wrongly accused so that the public will have confidence in our police?

Now back to what I said I will leave till later. As many of you knows, Haris Ibrahim, Human Rights lawyer, set up the People's Parliament. Objectives: To get MPs that really represent the interest of their Constituents, not the Executive, plus to get to know your MP (or what I would put more accurately, the likely candidates for your Constituent) so that when you vote, you vote with eyes opened. As part of that. I interviewed the current MP of my Constituent. My first question: "How can a Barisan MP represent their Constituent when they are under the whip ALL THE TIME?" To put it in layman's term, the Barisan MPs are obliged to vote FOR ALL proposals from the Executive and the ruling Barisan in Parliament, and AGAINST ALL proposals from the oppositions, IRRESPECTIVE OF MERITS, IRRESPECTIVE OF THEIR CONSCIENCE (what they should feel is right or wrong).

Cleaver reply: "All proposals must go through a long process of consultations before they are tabled at the Parliament. The Cabinet members are consulted, the NGOs, the stakeholders, etc. (unfortunately I did not hear the word "voter"). When this proposal to amend the Constituent to extend the retirement age of the Chairman of the Election Commission (current chairman Rashid whose term had recently been extended because the amendment was successfully passed in Parliament whose photo was torn, crumbled and threw into a rubbish bin in from of the press) was hurriedly tabled at the Parliament, I requested for an urgent appointment, kindly granted. I asked: "In this case, did the consultations take place, if so, how long and who or which NGO were consulted?"

Another clever answer: "When I told you about long consultations, I was only referring to MY Ministry".

So obviously from that answer plus the 2 bills tabled in a hurry - bill to amend the Constituent to extend retirement age of Chairman of Election Commission plus bill to set up SCC, obviously did not go through any real consultation process before being tabled in the Parliament because a lot of people who should know were caught by surprise.

Forgot to add, there is another similar Facebook group who must have a creator or creators who have more time and resources than me:

Malaysian for IPCMC

Hope you will join both, the above more active one, and hopefully the one below too:

Scrap Special Complaints Commission (SCC) campaign

Map to Tony Pua's Service Center

Tony Pua is an Oxford graduate who succeeded to list an IT company in the Singapore Stock Exchange and came back to Malaysia to get involved in politics, I assume, to effect positive changes to Malaysia, same objective as this group. I assume, if Tony's objective is to get rich, he would have been better off staying put in Singapore or join the Barisan, not DAP. One cannot get rich by joining DAP, one only get headaches. Tony Pua is the likely candidate for the Parliamentary seat of PJ Utara (Petaling Jaya Utara). Here is a map showing the location of Tony Pua's service center which also double up as the branch office of the DAP's Damansara Utama branch:

Location map of Tony Pua's Service Center which is also the DAP Damansara Utama's branch office

Address:

No. 55-1 Jalan SS21/1A,
Damansara Utama,
47400 Petaling Jaya
Tel: 016-2208867

It is located in same same row of 4 storey shop houses as Telekom Malaysia, opposite the residential houses and above a corner shop lot above a restaurant. I hope to give more details later with directions, photos of landmarks, etc.

Dr, Mahathir mudah lupa: Not true

We have read about the selective amnesia of Tun Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad at the "Royal Commission on VK Lingam tape" with his numerous "cannot remember". However, he was reported by MySinchew.com as having "remembered" a gentlemen agreement for a one term premiership for Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, the current Prime Minister of Malaysia and successor to Tun Dr. Mahathir.

So people saying Dr. Mahathir lupa lupa (Dr. Mahathir easily forget) is not true.

Source:
http://www.mysinchew.com/node/6552?tid=14

Song dedicated to Dr. Mahathir who had the chance to redeem himself but blown it

When Dr. Mahathir testified at the Royal Commission on the VK Lingam tape and scandal, he chose selective amnesia. Dr. Mahathir was reputed to be very sharp when he was Prime Minister of Malaysia, but at the Royal Commission, he showed a poor deterioration, real or not, we do not know. There were lots of "I don't remember". Had he chosen to remember, he would have done our nation a great service by helping to start to right the rot in the Malaysian Judiciary that started with his sacking of the then Lord President Tun Salleh Abas. Instead, he chose selective amnesia. So Farida rendered her own version of the popular song of the 70s - "I started a joke""

I started the rot
That sent this nation crumbling
But I wouldn't see
That the rot was in me.

I took all the power
And had the nation crying
But I didn't care
That my rule was unfair.

I started it all
Caused all this mess
And people had less
But I, I'm on my throne
I don't care two hoots
I can go it alone.

I've started a scheme
That'll make you want me back
A pity you can't see
That Malaysia needs me.