PERWI

Chief Insp Azilah Hadri who was sentenced to death yesterday for the murder of Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu filed his appeal today.

The notice of appeal against conviction and sentence was filed by his counsel, J. Kuldeep Kumar.

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Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had no effect on the April 7 by-elections and this shows that people do not want him anymore, says Datuk Zaid Ibrahim.

The former law minister, who has had a running feud with the former prime minister since his move last year to compensate judges sacked by Dr Mahathir in the 1987 judicial crisis, said this in an interview on the “Fairly Current Show” [video below], a short programme that aired on the Internet yesterday.[more]

Kelantan DAP has supported the call by Menteri Besar Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat that Pasir Mas member of parliament (MP) Datuk Ibrahim Ali resign so that a by-election could be held.

Its pro-tem committee secretary Sew Kok Beng said this was in line with the voters’ wish that the constituency be represented by a credible leader.

“Ibrahim should resign as Pasir Mas MP because he won on a Pas ticket,” he said when commenting on a suggestion by the Pas spiritual leader that voters in Pasir Mas should be given the chance to pick a new leader.[more]

Pasir Mas Member of Parliament Datuk Ibrahim Ali said today he was not in a hurry to apply to join Umno and instead would wait for the party to make the first move.

“I will not propose to Umno, but I will think about it if Umno proposes to me. I have no idea when that is going to happen,” he said when asked to comment whether he wanted to remain as the sole independent MP or return to Umno.

Ibrahim, whose Umno membership has been suspended for life, said that he would think about it carefully should Umno want him back in the party.[more]

Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak's cabinet line-up received mixed response from political opponents to the business community but all agreed that Malaysia has only a small window of opportunity to transform itself in the current global economic slump.

There were high expectations that the new Prime Minister will radically overhaul the cabinet and cut it down in size as part of his reform agenda of "People First, Performance Now" but political accomodation ensured just a slightly trimmer administration.

Some who lost in Election 2008 or in the recent Umno party polls still made it to the front bench.

The Malaysian Insider gives its view on the Cabinet.

• Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, Prime Minister and Finance Minister - He was always going to be in charge of the finance portfolio, with the turning around of the slowing Malaysian economy and finding new growth engines being his main KPIs.

Also, even since Dr Mahathir Mohamad accused Anwar Ibrahim of empire building as finance minister, it appears that no prime minister wants to outsource this important portfolio.

Senior civil servants say that Najib is more decisive than Abdullah and is likely to crack the whip harder to get the powerful civil servants at MOF to implement projects at a faster pace.[more]

KUALA LUMPUR, April 9 — Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced his Cabinet of 28 ministers today, with many faces retained and Sabah emerging big winners with four members given senior portfolios.

But despite the expectations otherwise, there were only a sprinkling of new faces with many members of Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s team retaining their jobs albeit with different ministries.

The Cabinet was also marginally trimmed down even though a leaner Cabinet was expected.

Among the ministers dropped were Datuk Azalina Aziz, Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar, Tan Sri Amirsham Aziz, Datuk Ong Ka Chuan and Tan Sri Muhammad Muhammad Taib.

Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, newly elected as Umno deputy president, was made deputy prime minister.[more]

Don’t get too excited. Political news may rule the day but change has yet to stamp its mark. With the new prime minister, hope is once again resurrected.

But even with promises of change, it may not mean the reform that the majority of Malaysians are hoping for. We’ve all heard it before — new leader, new promises, striving to be one true community, unity and so on.

Fine ideals but many of us have been disappointed before; more than once. I just think that more time is needed for positive changes. We’re still bogged down by the baggage of the past.[ more ]

There are some fixed rules and guidelines in life. For example, gravity always wins, faster-than-light travel is impossible, and politicians are, by and large, economical with the truth.

On the other hand, there are some things which are a little fuzzier. Some people think that magnetic bracelets can cure hypertension, djinns invade bodies and turn some women into lesbians, and it's okay to call someone a murderer without proof.

For the last fuzzy point, the MP for Puchong was the most high-profile person to accuse the MP for Pekan of the act, specifically in relation to the unfortunate death of a Russian-speaking lady. He's not the only one, nor was he the first to cast aspersions on Pekan's character.[more]

G20 leaders are expected to discuss using proceeds from planned gold sales by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to double funding available for poor countries which need help dealing with the global economic crisis, a source familiar with the plan said on Sunday.

The source said there was not unanimous support for the idea, including within the IMF, because the IMF's low-interest lending to poor countries does not generate enough return to fund further lending.

Regardless of any possible gold sales, IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn has already asked the G20 group of the world's 20 biggest economies to provide additional funding to double resources for IMF low-income programmes.[more]

But Tengku Razaleigh was young and had unfinished business. Tun Razak had launched the New Economic Policy just five years before that. Much needs to be done to ensure that the aspirations of the New Economic Policy are met. Tengku Razaleigh felt it would be better he focused on ensuring that the New Economic Policy succeeds. Furthermore, he was still quite young so it was too early for him to take over as Prime Minister.

It was agreed that Tun Hussein Onn would instead take over. And Hussein Onn would choose one of the three Umno Vice Presidents as his Deputy. And these three were Tengku Razaleigh, Ghafar Baba and Dr Mahathir Mohamad, in that order of priority. At first, Hussein Onn wanted to bypass all three. He preferred Ghazali Shafie. But Ghazali Shafie was not one of the three Umno Vice Presidents so the three would not allow that to happen. Hussein Onn’s hands were tied. He had no choice but to choose from amongst one of the three.[more]

The Barisan Nasional has suffered four deadly blows in a row. Umno has been soundly defeated on three occasions since 8 March 2008.

The outcome of these by-elections have confirmed that there is no stopping the Pakatan no matter what crafty means the BN adopts or devices to reach out to the electorate.

For Umno the results have been devastating. It has not recovered lost ground neither has it revived its fortunes. It has been downhill all the way in spite of changing its president and acclaiming him as the sixth prime minister of Malaysia.

Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak going down to the ground without any fanfare dressed in ordinary clothes; meeting ordinary people and eating vadai in crowded Brickfields; addressing the nation propounding the concept of one Malaysia; bringing in Tun Mahathir Mohamad to turn the tide on the last day of campaigning – all this did not make any difference.[more]

Scepticism comes naturally with broken promises. Due to disillusionment among far too many individuals under the previous administration, the words of a Barisan Nasional-led administration are close to worthless nowadays.

It is, therefore, not hard to prove that the window for sloganeering for the new Prime Minister is extremely narrow. What really matters now is action, and the first step in breaking that scepticism is by assembling a Cabinet worthy of trust.

The window for sloganeering should have been shut completely if not for the role of slogans in clarifying any agenda. While catchy slogans still have a place, the agenda must first be set straight and right. In this era of extreme scepticism, doing otherwise invites disaster.

* Hafiz Noor Shams explains minarchism at maddruid.com

The results of the April 7 by-elections are not unexpected. While the status quo was expected to remain, what was surprising was the increased margins of the winning sides, especially in the battles of the 2 Bukits.

BN leaders have been telling the people and their grassroots that Malay votes have begun to return to Umno, what with the charges of “derhaka” against the ousted mentri besar of Perak Datuk Seri Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin being floated around and working up the feelings of the people on the ground.

Even though I do not have the breakdown of the voting streams yet and hence would not be able to tell how much of Malay votes have returned, common sense dictates that with the increased margin won by PAS and PKR respectively in Bukit Gantang and Bukit Selambau, it is unlikely that significant Malay votes have returned to BN.

This is despite the awesome BN by-election machinery, the catchy rhetoric of the new prime minister, and the return of a former prime minister to the fold of Umno, who also campaigned on behalf of BN candidates in the 2 Bukits.[more]

“Thank God for Mahathir,” DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said as he celebrated the huge wins in Bukit Gantang and Bukit Selambau last night.

His four words captured everything that was wrong with Umno and Barisan Nasional’s strategy to recapture the two hills lost in Election 2008. They spoke about race not respect, development not democracy, faith not friendship and treason not trust.

No on said it better than Umno's latest prize, Member 0000001 Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who rejoined the party he founded and endorsed Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak as a better prime minister than Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi who was his hand-picked successor.

Mahathir, complete with his signature smirk and olive bush jacket, campaigned like in the past by telling the people all the goodness of Barisan Nasional and why the various races have to compromise for the better future of the country.

Nothing wrong with his message, which the opposition thought could swing votes back to Barisan Nasional.[more]

Memang ada benarnya kata-kata Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein bahawa kekalahan Barisan Nasional dalam pilihan raya kecil Parlimen Bukit Gantang dan Dewan Undangan Negeri Bukit Selambau tidak boleh dianggap sebagai tanda rakyat menolak kepimpinan Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak.

Menurut Naib Presiden Umno itu, Najib sebagai perdana menteri tidak boleh dipersalahkan kerana beliau baru sahaja memegang tampuk pemerintahan negara.

“Saya percaya berikan masa kepada kami, kita dapat buktikan bahawa politik BN bukan politik sementara, bukan politik sensasi dan bukan politik berkisar kepada isu-isu tertentu saja tetapi suatu perjuangan yang konsisten dan mengambil kira cita rasa dan kehendak orang ramai, masa, tempat dan zaman,” katanya.[selanjutnya]

MCA wants to retain the four Cabinet slots it has in Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s new line-up to be announced tomorrow despite talk of a smaller administration.

MCA president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat said he has asked the new prime minister to retain the same number of MCA seats in the cabinet which is speculated to be with just over 20 ministries.

“We have agreed on one understanding that is we all realise the PM’s prerogative in determining the members of the cabinet but MCA would like to voice the hope that its current numbers be retained,” Ong told reporters after chairing a party presidential council meeting.

Apart from the four Cabinet positions, MCA also has six deputy minister slots. Some leaders have been asking for Barisan Nasional to create a second deputy prime minister's post to be filled by MCA.[more]