Who are these supporters of Barisan Nasional?

From theStar online Tuesday, March 04, 2008:
http://thestar.com.my/metro/central/

"EPL stars like John Terry of Chelsea and Ryan Giggs of Manchester United have made their preference on which party they are vouching for in the 12th general election."

Seemed that was on a large billboard Celcom billboard near the Ampang LRT station. Were they paid to hold up those little "dacing" flags? I don't know and don't wish to voice out my thoughts. All I know that golf superstars like Tiger is paid very handsomely for endorsing some golfing equipment brands and that is common practice, I also know that billboard advertising is very very expensive. Who paid for them? Is it added to the maximum campaign funds?

Now at a nomination center, the BN was allotted a strategic place next to the main road, easily accessible. The DAP was allotted an isolated playground away from the main road which was only accessible via hard to find paths because the most convenient access was blocked. I also heard that quite a numbers of those waving the BN flags were foreigners who were paid. The announcer said he only heard it, he does not know if it is true or not. What I know is that one who helped in the campaigning of an ADUN in the 2004 election was feasted with a big dinner at which envelopes containing money were handed out. True or not I do not know as I was not at the dinner. But this I know. I heard it from that person who was at the dinner with my own two ears.

Koh Tsu Koon ignored Indians

Koh fails to stop - just looks and goes
Athi Veeranggan | Mar 3, 08 11:20am [extract]

http://www.malaysia kini.com/ news/79042

(edited to avoid duplicate content)

A group of residents numbering more than 200 carrying banners and placards and many chanting anti-BN slogans, were protesting against the BN (Barisan Nasional) for failure to expand a Valdor Tamil school despite appealing for 20 years.

While they were staging their protest, Koh Tsu Koon passed the area in his (presumably expensive)four-wheel drive about 11am.

They shouted for him to stop and hear them out, but Koh - contesting his
first parliamentary seat in Batu Kawan which covers the Valdor area - ignored the calls and drove on by.

Remeber how insensitive UMNO held their General Assembly during Deepavali? Remember how Abdullah Badawi dissolved the Parliament during the Chinese New Year celebrations. Remember how the Prime Minister said he is Prime Minister for all Malaysians. Let us remember. Let us not depend on cheap talk. Let us examine actions.

Remember all these when you cast your votes on Saturday 8 March 2008.

Sleeping Prime Minister. Let the picture do the talking

It was reported in the International Herald Tribune, March 3, 2008:

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/03/03/asia/AS-POL-Malaysia-Elections.php

that "Malaysia's prime minister rejected critics' claims Monday that he deserved to lose in this week's general election for being a poor leader who sleeps on the job."

Now let us let the photos do the talking:







I take no delight in this post as I had put much hope in Abdullah Badawi when I voted for Barisan Nasional in 2004. There were so many promises. After the dictatorial rule of Dr. Mahathir, I grabbed at the chance for a change for the better. Did we get it? After so many years what was achieved? Port Klang Free Zone fiasco where billions of public money went down the drain, the Port Klang State Assemblyman Zakaria Md Deros palace built on land meant for the poor without planning approval which according to planning law is supposed to be torn down but was only slapped with a paltry fine, dropped but not totally dropped out from the election because his daughter-in-law is now contesting on his behalf, the promised IPCMC which was then supposed to be replaced by a "post box" SCC (Special Complaints Commission) whose function, according to Edmund Bon, Malaysia Bar Council Human Rights Committee Chairman, is to accept complaints, study them, and then forward them to whatever agencies they see fit. The dragging of feet over the demand for a Royal Commission to study the VK Lingam tape which should also cover the state of the Judiciary, but delayed by a useless Panel of Inquiry to study its authenticity, and only after much public outrage, a Royal Commission with very limited terms of reference was set up. Even then, the key witness was allowed to treat the Royal Commission with contempt with answer like "he looks like me, he sounds like me...."

Brains need to be unclogged, not drains

Got this from a comment in Haris Ibrahim's blog:

"Malaysians have been long brainwashed, what needs to be unclogged is brains, not drains."

Please tell that to our jaga longkang BN (Barisan Nasional) MPs (Members of Parliament).

Keep this in mind when you cast your vote this Saturday, 8 March 2008

Ceramah at Paramount Garden, PJ, 2 March 2008

DAP's ceramah on Sunday 2 March 2008 will be at

Restoran New Seaview
65 & 67 Jalan 20/7
Paramount Garden
47300 Petaling Jaya

(DAP HQ is at No 24, Jalan 20/9, Paramount Garden, just an adjacent row from Jalan 20/7. Jalan 20/7, Paramount Garden is the main road while Jalan 20/9 is a residential road next to the main road. You can see a map to Restoran New Seaview, Paramount Garden below:



Location of Restoran New Seaview (New Seaview Restaurant) is indicated by a square box and highlighted by a red arrow at the end of which is a blue box with the name of the restaurant.

Barisan Harapan Rakyat (Coalition of Hope for Malaysians)

Vote DAP (Rocket)	Vote PKR

Just Change it

Barisan has abused the two-third majority and amended the Constitution 50 times, many amendments containing multiple amendments, adding up to a total of 700 amendments!!!!! According to Haris Ibrahim at a SS2 Petaling Jaya ceramah (click BACK button to get back to this page), "A Member of Parliament upon joining the Parliament, take an oath to defend, uphold and preservere the Constitution. However, every BN (Barisan Nasional) MP has cooperated in dismantling our document systematically. In the process, taken away our rights. In the process, taking away our Constitutional Institutions" (edited).

He also gave a battle cry "Barisan Harapan Rakyat (Coalition of Hope for Malaysians)". Let us hope that this can become a reality and stop the rot in Malaysia. In the meantime, the two-third majority MUST BE TAKEN AWAY from the BN (Barisan Nasional). Of course, we hope that this "Barisan Harapan Rakyat (Coalition of Hope for Malaysians)" can form the next government after polling day.

Kelana Jaya Constituency: Who should you vote for?

To People's Parliament and Kelana Jaya voters, who feels that Loh Gwo-Burne is not a credible candidate because they do not know enough about him. May I ask, how much time do you have to get to know candidates within such short period of time. I would say that for the Barisan, we know enough. For Loh Gwo-Burne, we should take the interim stand that we know sufficient to give him his chance, that he risked all to come out into the open to testify. After all, Haris said in the SS2 Petaling Jaya (click BACK button to get back to this page) that "if we can put them in, we can take them out. Give him one chance. Throw him out if he does not perform in the next 4 to 5 years. We do not have the luxury of time to dig into every nooks and corners of a candidate. Even if we are given 4 years, I doubt anyone can find out all about any candidate.

Yes we should know about our Candidates. What do we know about Loh Gwo-Burne? Not much, but he was brave enough enough to come forward and testify in the Royal Commission for the VK Lingam tape. How many Malaysians are prepared to do that? They will be afraid of getting black listed. If he is prepared to risk his future by coming out in the open, this at least we can expect of him. He, I believe could be counted upon to defy the Executive, to not vote for bills and proposals that are against the nation's interest and against his conscience.

How about the Barisan candidate? Will he go against the whip? Will he be brave enough to go vote against party lines? You know the answer. For a more detailed answer, refer to this post where this issue was discussed and where you can find out more about Billi Lim, the other candidate in the 3 corner contest: Interview with Billi Lim of UNIF (click BACK button to get back to this page)

Haris Ibrahim at SS2 Petaling Jaya Ceramah

You can view and listen to the actual video of Haris Ibrahim speaking at the DAP ceramah at SS2 Petaling Jaya at Haris Ibrahim at SS2 Ceramah. If you just want to read, here is the rough transcript (may be very very slightly different Haris's actual speech):

---

Semua ada baik? (Is everybody OK?)

Response: "Baik!!!!" (OK or good)

Ah, ini satu orang cakap betul. (Ah, this one person says the truth). Semua cakap baik (everyone says good). Mana ada baik (how can it be good)? Mana ada baik? (how can it be good?)

Kita mahu cakap terus terang (We want to say it straight and clear). Boleh minta izin (May I ask for permission)? (Boleh cakap Bahasa Inggeris? (May I speak in English?). Thank you.

Dr Cheah said, vote DAP for them. Vote DAP for DAP. I say no. Vote DAP for us. The first speaker said, DAP, DAP, DAP. But I said Rakyat, Rakyat, Rakyat (people, people, people or public, public, public).

I think even in Kepala Batas (Constituency of caretaker Prime Minister in Penang), Pak Lah (Abdullah Badawi), can feel the earth shaking with people power. Makal Sakthi (People's Power).

My friend, until 2004, I refused to vote BN (Barisan Nasional or National Coalition). I alway voted DAP (Democratic Action Party). Why? Because Dr. Mahathir had this policy he called it "Look East Policy". We all remember or not? Look East Policy. What we didn't know was this, when we all were looking East, his hands were in the cash register.

So when Pak Lah (Abdullah Badawi) came along, look at his face, look so innocent, how not to trust? And then he came out with his beautiful one page Manifesto. More public space, more civil society space, greater transparency, no corruption, more civil society space, more space for youth.

My friends. I went through that document again today. He said he wants to give us his report card. But never mind. I give him his report card. FAILED.

I said today to Pak Lah: "ku tak percaya kamu lagi" (I don't believe you anymore).

It is hard. You know, I am a lawyer. I don't do badly. The tolls go up, I still can afford. No, that is the truth, that is the truth, right? Most of you here pro can afford, but there are lots of people who are being affected.

so you can give us that statistics, about how the economy, the GDP has gone up. But go to the ground. Go to the ground and ask how the average citizen, how he is managing his finances at home. People are struggling. But he doesn't know because he can go from time to time to his nasi kandar restaurant in Australia. Stay in his bungalow there. Go on his yatch. Dia tak tahu lagi. Right?

Now we got to start looking after ourselves. We got to start to believe that if we want to change things, we can. But we must believe. All right?

We must also tell the political parties that come to us asking for our votes. Remind them that rakyat are the boss. We are the boss. WE ARE THE BOSS. Kebetulannya, rakyat adalah Yang Berhormat (actually, the public are the Respected or Honorable). Ahli Parliament Yang Berkhidmat (Member of Parliament are the Servant.

Now when I voted for BN in 2004, I tell truth, my biggest hope was that Pak Lah will start to clean up the Judiciary. It is the most important institution of the rakyat. When everything fails, when the economy fails, when your Parliament is not working, if you have a Judiciary that is honest, that is clean, that abide by its oth of office, the rakyat are still safe. Our property is still safe. Our liberty is still safe. My friends, Dr. Cheah mentioned just now. 50 acts to amend the Constitution introducing 700 amendments. This is our document. They took an oath. Everytime a Member of Parliament enter the Parliament, he taked an oath of office. What does he say? I swear to defend, uphold and preservere the Constitution. BN has been dismentalling our document systematically. In the process, taken away our rights. In the process, taking away our Constitutional Institutions.

We have been sitting back and allowing this to go on for too long. Why? Jangan don't get involved. ISA (Internal Security Act which allows for detention without trial). This they hope we will continue to fear. And as long we fear, they will rule the day. There are enough of us. I can see it here today. I see on the blogs. I see it on the Internet. I see it when I go to the kampung (village), when I go to have chats and talks. People are fed-up. You cannot tipu (bluff) the rakyat (people or public) all the time lah Pak Lah (Abdullah Badawi)!

Now I keep getting ??????. (how much time do I have?) Saya selalu dapat email dari orang (I always get email from people). Contoh, dari Puchong (example, from Puchong). Haris, sekarang you suruh kita, you cadang kita mengundi untuk pembangkang (Haris, you now tell us, you propose we vote opposition). Tapi saya kawasan PAS (but my Constituent is Constiutent of PAS)! Saya banyak dapat email ini (I gets lots of such emails). Kawan-kawan, saya cakap terus terang (friends, I say it straight and clear). Kalau dua tahun dari sekarang, saya pun mungkin risau (Two years earlier, I also is probably worried). Tapi saya cakap sekarang hari ini (but I say it today). Saya lebih percaya PAS dari percaya UMNO (I have more faith in PAS than in UMNO). Saya cakap ini hari (I say it today). Ahli politic PAS lebih iklas dari UMNO (the PAS politicians are more sincere than the UMNO politicians). Kita jangan takut (we need not fear). Kita sudah dengar, PAS sekarang mahu bertanding 60 seats (we heard, PAS wants to contest for 60 seats). 60 Parlimentary seats. Now 60 Parliamentary seats, let's say they win all 60 seats. That means UMNO lost 60 seats already. Alright, PAS against UMNO. PAS by itself cannot form the government. Correct? And over the last 2 weeks, I don't know how many of you have heard of this document "Declarasi Rakyat" (People's Declaration). Dengar ah (did you hear)? Cantik punya dokument (beautiful document). I am very happy to say, DAP endorsed the document. PAS endorsed the document. PKR endorsed the document. PSM endorsed the document, MDP endorsed the document. Pasuk endorsed the document. Tuan-tuan dan puan-puan, ini sekarang adalah Barisan harapan rakyat (ladies and gentlemen, this is now the Coalition of the People's Hope).

Saya cadangkan, kita jangan risau (I propose, we need not worry). Mungkin ada yang di sini yang bukan dari PJ Utara (maybe some of you here are not from PJ Utara). Kalau PJ Utara, cantik (if you are from PJ Utara, great). Siapa you punya calon (show is your candidate)? TONY PUA. Tony Pua. Professional, pakar ekonomiks. Saya tak mahu sentuh ekonomiks. Dia pakar. Saya tak mahu sebut (I don't want to mention it). Nanti dia cakap saya silap (afterwards, he may say I am wrong). Tadi Dr. Cheah sudah cakap, kita mahu orang professional, Orang pakar di Parliament (Just now, Dr. Cheah said we want professions, specialists in the Parliament). Kita harap, kalau kita pilih orang yang bertangung jawab, orang yang memahami bidang dia..... (we hope if we vote for responsible people, people who know their specialities......) , dan paling penting, memahami amanah rakyat (and most important, understand public's trust). Saya cukup yakin (I am confident enouth). calon DAP di PJ Utara mendekati dan dan memenuhi ????? yang saya sebut tadi (. Dia calon yang cukup sesuai. Dr. Cheah kata, deny the BN the two-third majority. But I believe in the power of positive thinking. We don't only hope to deny two-third. Kita minta, kita mahu menubuh kerajaan. Sebab rakyat sudah bosan dengan Barisan Neraka. Correct, correct, correct ah? Correct, correct, correct, betul, betul, betul, ....

saya sudah bosan. Dua minggu dalam Komission, saya sudah mahu bunuh diri. Tak boleh tahan.

My friends, yes, we stand here, we laugh. But we face a very serious situation in this country. It is our country. We must take our country back. Right? Now I heard also one speaker talked about 20% for the Chinese, and 9% for the Indians. I do not subscribe to this. For a long time, I do not believe that I am anything else other than anak bangsa Malaysia. Now I do not see Chinese or Indians because I see anak bangsa Malaysia. I believe that DAP and the other opposition parties, are non-race based, and this is the way the country needs to move forward.

Now I think it was late last year, November. Gerakan, during the assembly. suggested to Pak Lah. Maybe it is time for us to leave aside race based politics. What did Pak Lah says, the rakyat are not ready. He don't want us ever to be ready.

As long as they continue the race-based politics, they will continue to divide us. They will continue to divide us. They will continue to divide the economic pie. UMNO will say, this bahagian we want to give to our people. You don't ask us how we divide. OSA.

And we know it. It never reaches the poor. The portion of the pie that is cut for the Chinese, never reaches the poor. We need to now take this country back and make sure the needy anak-anak bangsa Malaysia in this country, are helped from now on. Correct.

Now I am confident, I am confident, that our friends in the DAP and other opposition parties, if given the mandate, will honor our expectations.

But the important thing to know is this. If we can put them in. We can take them out. Betul? Sebab rakyat kuasa. But I am very very confident. That our friends, who are now called the opposition, if they come to power, will honor their obligations with us. My friends, I understand there are also a few other speakers. And perhaps we should give them the opportunity. I thank you for listening.

Abdullah Badawi lied or Oppositions lied?

From theSun Front Page (not advertisement) 28 February 2008:

PM: Opposition spreading lies to undermine Barisan unity

Now this is from memory. Sometime, if I remembered correctly, Raja Petra (Malaysia Today) reported that Abdullah Badawi will be getting remarried. Again from memory, it was reported in the newspapers that Abdullah Badawi denied he will be getting remarried. A few months later, Abdullah Badawi remarried.

Another one. Again all from memory as I have no time to search. Raja Petra (Malaysia Today) predicted that the Parliament will be dissolved on 13 February 2008. On 12 February 2008, reporters asked Abdullah Badawi if the Parliament will be dissolved tomorrow (13 February 2008). His reply, "not tomorrow". Next day (tomorrow) 13 February 2008 Abdullah announced that the Parliament had been dissolved.

Now who are lying?

Please help. I have lots of things to do and have no time to verify what I wrote above. I am open to correction, even apologize if proven wrong. Please let me know if I had written anything that is factually wrong so I can correct it.

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?