Don't weaponise the Indian community

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LETTER | Don't weaponise the Indian community

TK Chua
Published: Apr 19, 2024 1:17 PM


LETTER | There was a university professor who became a politician and subsequently the deputy chief minister of Penang without going through the hard knocks of engaging in opposition politics.

After he was dropped in last year’s state election and since then he has not stopped venting his unhappiness towards DAP, his former party. Professor P Ramasamy, I think it is time for you to wake up to reality.

I must say you derived more gains than sacrifice. So for goodness sake, please stop weaponising the Indian community because of your personal dissatisfaction with DAP.

No community in Malaysia today is satisfied because our politics and governance are depraved. Whichever party or coalition emerges victorious or forms the government, we must learn to live with it.

What matters most is whether the government of the day can provide the right trajectory over the long term. Do we want a moderate government or a right-wing extremist government?

Say what you like, our country has been divided and dissected for far too long. It would probably take an equal amount of time to bring us together again.

The Madani government has its shortcomings and no one can dispute that. I think the present government is also aware of its own weaknesses. There are probably many things that the government would want to do differently but it is constrained by the political reality now besieging the country.

We have records of how the Indian community was marginalised since independence, essentially perpetrated and perpetuated by the same nationalist government. For a short while, it was ruled by another conservative government, which treated the Indians the same.


Many grievances

Now, we have the Madani government. For better or worse, it is a new government that is not even two years old. Suddenly, we have so many grievances that we want to “stab” this government and teach it a hard lesson.

Former Penang deputy chief minister P Ramasamy


It would be good if Professor Ramasamy could point out in what ways the Madani government has done less than the Perikatan Nasional and BN governments.

I sincerely hope there will be an objective evaluation of this and let us not continue using the Indian community to satisfy our agenda.

It does not make sense to me, Professor Ramasamy. Before this, you were a part of a multicultural DAP, and I believe you were happy to play your roles accordingly. Today you are the “champion for Indians”.

I think everyone, including Professor Ramasamy, can see what is behind the screen. Please, for the long-term good of this country, do not keep dividing us simply because you no longer have the favour of your party.

FAM, what happened to the World Cup tickets?

FAM, what happened to the World Cup tickets?

R Nadeswaran
Published: Apr 19, 2024


COMMENT | Football is the world’s most popular sport with billions of followers around the world and cricket is a poor second because of the large following in the Indian subcontinent and Commonwealth countries.

Whenever big tournaments are held, legions of followers and supporters from around the world descend to the venues to watch their favourite stars in action.

As demand always outstrips supply, organisers and governing bodies make efforts to ensure that the fans, even from the smallest and remotest countries get a chance at the tickets instead of paying large sums of money to scalpers.

The governing body for football, Fifa, allocates tickets to all its 211 affiliates for the World Cup, the last of which was held in Qatar two years ago.

These tickets are meant for sale to fans in their respective countries and the quantity varies depending on various factors, including if that country qualifies for the final rounds.

Malaysia was one of the recipients of tickets but local fans never saw any of these tickets.

Instead, they had bought them online or from friends in other countries who had bigger allocations or even on the lucrative black market.

Malaysia was allocated a minimum of 250 tickets but England, which had qualified, got a bigger allocation.

A Malaysian fan who had heard about this sent messages to the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) requesting tickets but received no reply.

How the tickets allocated to the FAM meant for fans were distributed remains a mystery and no one wants to clarify.

For the past three months, I have been trying to get the FAM to explain how and to whom the tickets were sold.

It was a simple query to the FAM secretary Noor Azman Rahman: “I understand that it is a practice and policy of Fifa to allocate World Cup tickets to all its 211 affiliates and that includes the FAM.

“In this context, I would like to know how many tickets were allocated to FAM for the 2022 tournament in Qatar and if the tickets were made available to Malaysian football fans.

“If they were, I asked in a rejoinder, how was it carried out? Was there a public announcement, etc?”


Questions went unanswered

Despite several messages and reminders, Azman has not been forthcoming and has gone into silent mode despite initially saying he would respond.

The first message was on Jan 28 and the immediate response was: “Sure I will prepare the reply.”

That was the last I heard from him. Regular reminders were sent via WhatsApp with the last being on Monday, but no reply was forthcoming.

Malaysiakini has also reached out to FAM for comment but has yet to receive a response.

Why the fuss about a minimum of 250 tickets? It goes down to the core of integrity and honesty of those holding positions in sports governing bodies in every country.

In the book “Foul!”, renowned investigative journalist (the late) Andrew Jennings outlined how football officials were lining their pockets by re-selling the allocated tickets to selected travel agents.

In 2015, in what was then described as the biggest sports scandal, Swiss authorities arrested a string of officials on corruption charges in Zurich and opened criminal proceedings over the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

The Swiss authorities seized “electronic data and documents” in a raid on Fifa headquarters. Bank documents had earlier been collected from various Swiss financial institutions.

Arrests were made on behalf of US authorities, after an FBI investigation that had been underway for at least three years. The US Department of Justice charged 14 people including nine current or former Fifa executives.

Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini, the respective presidents of Fifa and UEFA, were hit with suspensions after a recommendation from world football's ethics committee. Also suspended was former Fifa vice-president Chung Mong-joon.

Subsequent investigations resulted in the indictment of several officials - the most prominent of them being Jack Warner - who was president of the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (Concacaf) and a Fifa executive committee member.

Jack Warner


Warner was said to have taken all tickets allocated to Concacaf and passed them to his son, who sold World Cup travel packages from the Caribbean.

Warner fought extradition but his two sons, who held dual citizenship were arrested in the US and entered a plea-bargaining arrangement and spilled the beans.

How are these events connected with FAM and local football?

Despite its enormous wealth, FAM is partly funded by the public. As recently as January, it received RM5 million as a grant from the government.

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who announced the grant said “based on the request by the youth and sports minister, the government has agreed to add RM5 million to the FAM to manage the national football team.”

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim


I am not in the least suggesting any wrongdoing by the FAM or its officials but there is this onerous duty to account for all their actions or inaction.

Neither am I suggesting an operation a la Warner, whereby the tickets ended up with a travel agent or a crony to be part of tour packages.

After all, the FAM is not a family business where details are made available to selected members.

It is a public body entrusted with governing football in the country and it is the organisation’s duty and responsibility to at least explain the mystery of the missing tickets.

In the governance of sports, transparency has become important, and it is the most frequently cited principle in good governance codes for national and international sports organisations.

It ought to be used as the main tool for evaluating the governance of sports organisations by the Youth and Sports Ministry and other related bodies.

I am not asking for details of the salaries and allowances paid to FAM officials. All I want to know is what happened to the tickets meant for us.

R NADESWARAN is a veteran journalist who writes on bread-and-butter issues. Comments: citizen.nades22@gmail.com

Unity govt parties have ways to ensure win in KKB by-election, Zahid says

Unity govt parties have ways to ensure win in KKB by-election, Zahid says

Published: Apr 20, 2024 7:26 AM


Coalition government parties have their ways to ensure a win in the Kuala Kubu Baharu by-election next month, Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said.

The BN chairperson said this was discussed at the Unity Government secretariat meeting on Wednesday.

“...certainly each party within the coalition government has its methods to ensure the victory of our candidate,” the Umno president told reporters at the Bagan Datuk Parliamentary Aidilfitri Open House event last night.

Over 8,000 people attended the event.

He was responding to MCA’s statement that the party would not be campaigning in the by-election if the chosen candidate was not from BN.

MCA decided on this at the party’s political development committee at the party's headquarters yesterday.

MIC, another component party of BN, reportedly said it would not join the by-election campaign if the candidate was not from BN.

The Kuala Kubu Baharu seat became vacant following the demise of its incumbent, Lee Kee Hiong, from DAP, on March 21.

The Election Commission has set May 11 for polling, while nomination and early voting will be on April 27 and May 7 respectively.

- Bernama

Zafrul refuses to reveal factual errors in Zahid's affidavit

Zafrul refuses to reveal factual errors in Zahid's affidavit

Published: Apr 19, 2024 7:16 PM


Umno supreme council member Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz refused to reveal the factual errors in the affidavit submitted by Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi in support of Najib Abdul Razak’s house arrest.

He said his stance remains the same as his statement issued two days ago.

"As I mentioned in the press release two days ago, I have no further comment,” said the investment, trade and industry minister at the launch of the Multi-Code Electronics Industries (M) Berhad construction site in Serendah, Selangor, today.

He declined to comment further when asked if he would submit an additional affidavit.

On Wednesday, Zafrul said there were factual errors in Zahid's affidavit to support Najib’s attempt to have his remaining jail sentence served under house arrest.

In a statement uploaded to Facebook, he said he would obtain legal advice and write to the High Court to correct the errors.

However, he did not reveal what the errors in the affidavit were.

Earlier that day, Zahid in an affidavit backed Najib’s claim of a supplementary royal order concerning the latter’s house arrest.

Zahid claimed that on Jan 30, Zafrul had informed him of the addendum order dated Jan 29 during a meeting at his house at Country Heights.


Najib’s affidavit

On April 4, Najib’s lead counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah told the media that a “critical witness” was set to file an affidavit to support Najib’s judicial review seeking to serve house arrest for the remainder of his six-year jail sentence over the RM42 million SRC International corruption case.

Najib is seeking leave to commence the judicial review for implementation of an alleged addendum by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong linked to the partial pardon that halved his jail sentence to six years and discounted his fine from RM210 million to RM50 million.

According to Najib’s affidavit in support of his judicial review, the former Pekan MP claimed that the king’s main royal order allowing the partial pardon was accompanied by a supplementary royal order containing the house arrest provision.

The former Umno president seeking a court order to compel the home minister, the attorney-general, the Pardons Board, the federal government, and a few other respondents to confirm this alleged addendum in the partial pardon and to “forthwith remove the applicant from Kajang prison facility to his known residences in Kuala Lumpur, where the applicant would continue to serve his imprisonment sentence under house arrest”.

Najib also seeks a mandamus order to compel the respondents to provide the original version of the royal addendum, costs, and any other relief deemed fit by the court.

He claimed in his affidavit to support the judicial review that his rights had been adversely affected and infringed upon by the respondents in ignoring his inquiries over the alleged royal addendum.

The respondents’ disregard of his request constituted a direct intrusion of his basic rights under the Federal Constitution and also amounted to direct contempt of the Agong, he added.

Najib further alleged that the respondents are trying to conceal the existence of the alleged royal addendum.

 

FMT:

S’gor PH to continue working with BN despite likely MCA, MIC polls snub

Faiz Zainudin-20 Apr 2024, 12:06 AM

The coalition’s election director, Ng Sze Han, says Pakatan Harapan wants to maintain the momentum of the unity government in the state.

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Selangor PH respects the decision by MCA and MIC to possibly stay out of the Kuala Kubu Baharu polls, says election director Ng Sze Han. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA: Selangor Pakatan Harapan has vowed to continue working with the Barisan Nasional leadership in the run-up to the Kuala Kubu Baharu by-election after two of the coalition’s component parties set conditions to help with the campaign.

“We want to maintain the momentum of the unity government in the state,” Selangor PH election director Ng Sze Han told FMT.

BN and PH formed the unity government in Selangor following the state election in August last year.

Earlier tonight, MCA said it will sit out the by-election campaign if the unity coalition did not field a BN candidate for the by-election on May 11.

MCA will join MIC on the sidelines, after MIC president SA Vigneswaran also said his party was not taking part in any way.

Selangor PH previously said it would field a candidate from DAP to defend the seat that fell vacant following the death of its assemblyman, Lee Kee Hiong, from cancer last month.

Ng said Selangor PH respected the decisions by MCA and MIC.

Meanwhile, Selangor DAP organising secretary Lau Weng San expressed hope that MCA and MIC supporters in Kuala Kubu Baharu will support the unity government on polling day to ensure that Selangor and the country continue to be administered by those who “care for peace and harmony”.

Nominations for the by-election will be held on April 27.

 

FMT:

MCA to sit out by-election campaign if BN candidate not picked

FMT Reporters-19 Apr 2024, 10:15 PM

The party says it will stay on the sidelines, like MIC, if the unity government selects someone from outside Barisan Nasional.

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MCA says its political development committee arrived at the unanimous decision at its meeting today.

PETALING JAYA: MCA said it will sit out the Kuala Kubu Baharu by-election campaign if the unity coalition does not field a Barisan Nasional candidate.

It said its political development committee had made the call during a meeting earlier today.

Last month, BN chairman Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said it will give way to a DAP candidate to stand in the May 11 polls as it is the incumbent party.

“After a thorough deliberation, it is the unanimous decision of the committee that if the proposed candidate is not a member of any BN party, MCA will not participate in any campaign efforts,” the party said in a statement.

MCA will join MIC on the sidelines, after MIC president SA Vigneswaran also said his party was not taking part in any way.

The by-election is being held following the death of DAP’s Lee Kee Hiong on March 21 after a battle with cancer.

 

FMT:

We respect Zahid, can’t you do the same for Anwar, PKR Youth tells Akmal

FMT Reporters-19 Apr 2024, 10:34 PM

PKR Youth chief Adam Adli takes exception to remarks by Dr Akmal Saleh on Anwar Ibrahim’s response on ‘supplementary order’.

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PKR Youth chief Adam Adli (left) has told his Umno counterpart, Dr Akmal Saleh, that ‘creating a schism won’t help us achieve what is best for all’.

PETALING JAYA: PKR Youth chief Adam Adli has hit out at his Umno counterpart, Dr Akmal Saleh, over his comments on Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s response to the house arrest bid by former prime minister Najib Razak.

Akmal had criticised Anwar for stating that deputy prime minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had backed Najib’s attempt to serve the remainder of his prison sentence under house arrest in his capacity as Umno president.

In a post on Instagram, he said it was not a question of Zahid’s capacity, but whether the government was going to abide by the king’s command.

The people, he wrote, wanted an explanation and “not an excuse”.

Adam said Akmal’s comments were a slight to Anwar, who is the PKR president.

“Just as we (PKR Youth) agree to respect your president by carefully choosing our words when giving our views, even for the most fundamental issues, would it cost you to do the same for our president, who is also the prime minister?” he wrote on X.

He said that as a youth leader in a party that was part of the government, Akmal had access to Umno leaders and that of its allies.

And, therefore, any issue that Akmal wanted to raise would not only go unheard but would be responded to.

“Maybe you really want to defend Najib and we won’t stop you, but believe me, creating such schism won’t help us achieve what is best for all,” he said.

Najib is seeking leave of the High Court to commence judicial review proceedings in a bid to compel the government to produce the “supplementary order”, which was purportedly issued by the former Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Al-Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, during the Federal Territories Pardons Board’s (FTPB) meeting on Jan 29.

On Feb 2, the FTPB halved Najib’s prison sentence in his SRC International case from 12 years to six years, and reduced his fine from RM210 million to RM50 million.

Najib, 70, is currently serving his sentence at Kajang Prison and is to be released on Aug 23, 2028.

On April 1, he commenced legal proceedings to compel the government to produce the purported “supplementary order”, claiming that the government was acting in contempt for not executing it.