Extracted from NST Online » Local News
2008/05/13
Ghapur laments the imbalance in posts
By : V. Vasudevan
Datuk Seri Ghapur Salleh says Sabah and Sarawak are the backbone of the BN
KUALA LUMPUR: As talk of defections continued in the Dewan Rakyat, the member for Kalabakan, Datuk Seri Ghapur Salleh, did not help matters when he "explained" how this was best done.
"We have never jumped. We can move by simply forming a new party. Then we can decide where we want to sit... here or there," he said, gesturing in the direction of the opposition and backbenchers.
Ghapur, speaking during the debate on the Royal Address, complained that Sabah had been sidelined by the federal government.
He had opposition MPs cheering when his call for justice sounded like a call to Parti Keadilan Rakyat, or Keadilan, which means "justice".
"Kita di Sabah mahu keadilan (We in Sabah want justice)," he said to laughter from the opposition ranks.
However, Ghapur quickly added tongue-in-cheek that what he wanted was not the PKR, but justice in the context of what was right for Sabah.
He said Sabah not only lagged behind the rest of Malaysia in terms of development but its people were treated as second-class citizens.
Ghapur said the statement by Datuk Anifah Aman, the member for Kimanis, last week was apt as it reflected the situation in the state.
Last week, Anifah told the House that there was nothing wrong in defecting to the opposition if the BN continued to treat Sabah with little respect.
Ghapur said Sabah and Sarawak were the backbone of the Barisan Nasional now, but the way the coalition had treated the two states had caused unhappiness among the people.
"Without Sabah and Sarawak, there would be no BN government. We have saved the Barisan Nasional," he said in reference to the 56 seats won by the BN in Sabah and Sarawak.
"But what we (Sabah) got in return was three ministerial positions. There are double standards in the BN."
He said the portfolios offered were insignificant in light of Sabah BN's contribution. "We were given a portfolio to take care of the museums. Is this fair?" he asked, referring to the Unity, Culture, Arts and Heritage portfolio held by Datuk Shafie Apdal.
The other ministers are Bernard Dompok (Minister in the Prime Minister's Department) and Datuk Maximus Ongkili (Science, Technology and Innovation).
"There is a state which can count seven ministers while another that was lost to the opposition has four ministers," he said, referring to Johor and Selangor respectively.
Ghapur wanted this imbalance in the power equation to be addressed by the government.
REPRISED or SHOULD IT READ "REPRISAL"?
The Countdown Officially Starts ...
Desi's post dated May 8, 2008:)
What countdown, you ask?
Here's the lead -- page 10, the NST (Print), and following is extract from the NST Online reprised in full:
2008/05/08
DEWAN RAKYAT
Anifah: No harm in crossing over
By : V. Vasudevan, B. Suresh Ram, Eileen Ng, R.S. Kamini and Ili Liyana Mokhtar
THERE is no harm in Barisan Nasional MPs in Sabah defecting to the opposition, a backbencher from the state told the Dewan Rakyat yesterday.
"If there is no more space in the existing bungalow, what is the harm in them moving to a smaller house?" asked Datuk Anifah Aman, the member for Kimanis, to cheers from the opposition and nods from backbenchers from Sabah.
Anifah, who was speaking during the debate on the Royal Address, drew on this analogy after Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, Datuk Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (BN-Bagan Datok) asked him if Sabah backbenchers were tempted to cross over to the opposition."Is this not an act of a desperado? Why would 140 members occupying bungalows want to move to smaller terrace houses?" Ahmad Zahid asked.
However, Anifah's reply stumped him, and a whole lot of backbenchers from the peninsula as well.
"I am not saying I am crossing over. There may be a handful who may want to move," he said.
"This matter of crossing over is not a serious matter. What is serious is the millions in five states in Malaysia who crossed over to the opposition," he said to laughter from opposition members.
This led Datuk Puad Zarkashi (BN-Batu Pahat) to ask Anifah if he would support an anti-hopping law.Anifah replied that he was against any law that would stop members from crossing over or changing parties.
"That would be like a police state. What is the point of persisting with leaders who have deviated from the right path? Do we stick with them? What good is a leader if the people are no longer with him?"
Anifah then pondered about the price of blind loyalty to leaders and the price people would have to pay for this."What is the use of being loyal to leaders and, in the process, sacrificing our people's future?" he asked.
To a question from Datuk Ghapur Salleh (BN-Kalabakan), who lamented about the poor infrastructural facilities in Sabah, Anifah said independence would be meaningless if the people could not enjoy clean running water or if children had to walk miles to get an education.
Anifah said the most important thing that the government should work on now was to prevent Sabah from going the way of the five states ruled by the Pakatan Rakyat. "Even if we speak harshly it does not mean we are defecting. The important thing now is for Sabah people not to jump like the Peninsular Malaysians did in the five states," he said.
DESIDERATA: Hear, hear! The deaf can hear again. Even the blind can see. And the dumb can speak. Except for many in the Barisan Nasional, especially from UMNO, oh no!
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And one aMore from the sidewalk of Furong as RPK weighs heavy steal on Desi's mind,
I ponder what'son most Malaysians' minds today. MalaysaiaToday...
From The Star, page 3 (print); below is extracting from one mind who may have four eyes (C4, anyone?) still does not see, The Star Online:)
Thursday May 8, 2008
Bloggers not immune to the law, says Najib
MERSING: The Government has always been liberal towards bloggers and has no plans to clamp down on them, said Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.
However, he reminded bloggers and Internet users that there were laws pertaining to sedition, defamation and libel.
“Just because you operate in cyberspace does not mean that you are absolved from having to comply with the nation’s laws,” he said when asked to comment on the recent case involving Raja Petra Raja Kamarudin.
Asked about the timing of the arrest and charging, which made the Government look unpopular, he said: “I do not think so. We have to draw the line of what is right or wrong”.
“This is not politically motivated,” he said to reporters after accompanying Sultan of Brunei Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah during a one-day working visit to the Special Forces base yesterday.
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DESIDERATA:
Ya-lah, Bloggers Know-lah, No Need to Remind-lah!
Just Mind Your Official Duties-lah! Maybe also Mind Pak-lah!
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Hear-lah!Another Poker Game Still in Progress
NST Online » Frontpage
2008/05/07
DEWAN DISPATCHES: Calling the bluff of the defection poker game
By : Azmi Anshar
DEWAN RAKYAT, Wed:
The Malay word ‘lompat’ is a sticky proposition in the lexicon of Malaysian politics. Strictly translated, it means “jump” but in the political realm, it means “defection”, an act both despised and embraced, depending on whether you are the one embracing deserters from a rival party or you are the party despising the desertion by the busloads.
Then there’s the stickier defection of sitting elected representatives from one party to another, a practice that is akin to a tug-of-war between warring political organisations. The indignant losing party will assume the moral high ground by claiming that the defecting MPs, or assemblymen:
:: cannot defect because they were elected on the ticket of their previous party;
:: have betrayed the trust of people who voted them in;
:: have no right to defect because they owe their allegiances to their sponsoring party
Would-be defectors can relax for now: plans to enact anti-hopping laws were killed in 1992 after the High Court declared them as unconstitutional and going against the freedom of association clause enshrined in the Federal Constitution. But the ruling has not stopped fresh plans for another round of anti-hopping law activism though the ethical dilemma is well understood by defectors.
But political parties on the receiving end had pushed hard for anti-hopping laws. Look to Parti Bersatu Sabah when they were being deserted by their assemblymen or to Pas in Kelantan when the balance of power hung precariously against their favour prior to the March 8 polls. More recently, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Zaid Ibrahim sounded the idea of an anti-hopping law to pre-empt defections by a probable 34 Sabah Barisan Nasional MPs, as claimed by PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. Even ex-Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad cautioned the BN government to seriously heed Anwar’s threat.
If Anwar’s claim materialises, it would mean the overnight collapse of the BN Government, empowering the fledgling Pakatan Rakyat coalition to form a new Federal government. It’s heady stuff in Malaysian politics, especially if you’ve never experienced the tantalising likelihood of an alternative government.
Since the threat of defection is deemed plausible, Datuk Anifah Aman (BN-Kimanis) was compelled to set aside a generous portion of his debate on the royal address at the Dewan Rakyat today on Anwar’s disruption to the balance of power in the Dewan Rakyat, but with eloquent arguments that dangled the pros and cons of defecting. In his calm, baritone voice espousing reason and practical wisdom, the 54-year-old enunciated the logic of defection: “There is no harm in Sabah BN MPs defecting to Pakatan Rakyat. The people of Sabah have had enough of being treated contemptuously like stepchildren.”
Sensing a trump card, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (BN-Bagan Datok), lobbed this metaphor to Anifah: why would you want to relegate yourself to living in a terrace house if you reside inside a swanky bungalow?
To the cheers of his Sabah BN colleagues, who formed a tag team to support of his “Sabah-had-been-neglected-for-47-years” victimology, and a considerable amount of Pakatan Raykat MPs, Anifah gave this rejoinder: "If there is no more space in the bungalow, what is the harm in them moving to a smaller house?” In a later rejoinder, he said to more cheers: "What is the use of additional rooms in the bungalow if we are forced to sleep in the toilet?"
And yet: "I am not saying I am crossing over,” Anifah quickly clarified. “Crossing over is not a serious matter. More serious are the millions of voters in five states in Peninsula Malaysia who crossed-over to the Opposition. Even if we speak harshly it does not mean we are defecting. The important thing now is for Sabah people not to jump like Peninsular Malaysians in five states.”
And still: “I am against any anti-hopping law. That would be like a police state. What is the point of persisting with leaders who have deviated? Do we stick with them? What good is a leader if the people are no longer with them?"
Anifah’s articulation of the Sabah “defect-or-not-to-defect” scenario is understandable: he stunned BN leaders by rejecting his appointment as a deputy minister. That was the first salvo. The second salvo came when Anwar made several visits to Kota Kinabalu and later declared 34 BN MPs were ready to join Pakatan Rakyat. Now comes the third salvo: Anifah’s rather paradoxical rationalisation of why it’s all right to defect and yet his assurance that he and his Sabah colleagues are not defecting to Pakatan Rakyat.
Here’s a reality check: like any poker game, you can win with a limp deck if you can bluff the other side into thinking that you have a flush when all you've got is a weak pair. It’s how you play the game or how good is your “poker face”.
Given what Dr Mahathir pronounced around the same time Anifah upped the defection ante considerably, the Kiwanis MP is playing perhaps the ultimate poker game: trying to win concessions for Sabah in the form of better Cabinet representation and procuring radical increase in development and infrastructure projects languishing in many Malaysian plans against the real threat of defections from Sabah BN MPs that will definitely crush BN’s decades-old hegemony.
But Anifah would also realise that playing the defection stakes as a form of political leverage against the BN has its downside: what if BN decides to call the Sabahan’s bluff and ignores the defection threat, but is floored by 34 MPs jumping ship while the whole political landscape metamorphosises?
Here may be the new scenario: Sabah can rejoice in forcing a new Pakatan Rakyat Federal government and with that, all the concessions they so desire…or enter the political dark ages as there is no guarantee that the PR government can be accommodating and the 34 MPs who defected get booted out in the next general election.
Either way, the Sabah MP may discover that in playing this profound poker game, Sabah is still the pawn in the great political chess game between Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat where it may not be a zero-sum game but losing still sucks. And this is what Anifah may have considered when he decided to raise the defection ante at the Dewan Rakyat today.
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