Well written comment that describes the reality in Thailand in a realistic manner. There’s little ambition from either side, and any progress may be reversed at the nest junction.
[…] Lim Chin Siong was detained without trial twice in his life: first under Lim Yew Hock’s government from 1956-1959, and subsequently under Lee Kuan Yew’s government from 1963-1969, during Operation Coldstore. […]
Dear Gerhard: Why are you wasting your time with a hired-gun from Najib? His so-called facts are nothing but old UMNO gimmicks of playing the racial card of Chinese versus Malay, blaming the opposition parties, blaming the foreign journalists … blaming everyone but themselves. The regime in Malaysia today is a gang of racist, corrupt, abnoxious and arrogant opportunists who really believe the masses are asses that can be manipulated by deceits and lies. They are such compulsive liars that they truly believe their lies to be facts. Instead of debating with a hired-gun, your time is better spent to writing more objective reports on Malaysian affairs, driving Najib and his gang more hysterical. You are not only educating the Malaysian readers but also the people of the world on what is going on in Malaysia.
Dear Calvin,
this is exactly why a foreign analysis is so important. You are clearly invested in the current Najib administration and opposed to Bersih. As a foreigner I can stand outside the government versus opposition dialectic. I reported from the rally, interviewed some attendees and wrote a photo essay. I have no detailed knowledge of the corruption allegations and comment no further except to say that your account above is very selective with the truth. Elections have to be run with money from somewhere, but it would raise questions in any country if a prime minister was to receive 700milllion USD from an unnamed Middle Eastern country. Funds for elections are predominantly sourced locally and i know Malaysia has weak laws regarding financing maybe Najib’s main problem is that of getting caught. Now he has to explain it and to the people I spoke to at the rally he had not done that adequately. Again I reported on what people there told me.
As to the ethnic make up of the rally, this changed over the weekend. When it started out on Saturday it was predominantly Chinese, but 90% seems way to high. I saw plenty of others, especially on Sunday. And not all Chinese vote DAP, many were there to demonstrate their dissatisfaction with the government and their wish for change. Now, what that change will look like is very much in the hands of UMNO and the government. These are party-internal politics as much as inter-party at the moment. But I am sure you know all this.
Let’s not be jubilant too soon with the new found toy of drone journalism. Don’t forget that the Malaysian authority is not a group of normal politicians but a bunch of die-hard racists who own all the guns and kangaroo courts in the nation. In addition they have the Malay gangsters whom they can unleash to cause riots giving them the legitimate excuse to use these guns and courts against dissenters. Unless the military and police are diversified in proportion to the racial composition of Malaysia, I don’t see how drone journalism is a threat to the authoritarian government, nor do I see it as much help to the demonstrators. To a racist dictator power starts from the barrel of the gun. That’s why the Malaysian military and police are almost entirely Malay.
Obviously I wasn’t there joining the yellow shirts.
I am not quite sure what kind of evidence is expected out of me to back up my arguments as most are already on the public domain or readily known facts.
If you were at the BERSIH rally I am sure you would have noted that 90% of the attendees were Chinese and most of them were supporters of Opposition parties rather than genuinely concerned Malaysians.
That the turn-out was so lop-sided ethnically did not come as a surprise to those who really understand the Malaysian politics. In fact the independent Merdeka Centre’s poll found out that the rally was supported by mostly the Chinese.
That BERSIH is a pro-Opposition is an open secret in Malaysia as are NGOs such as the Bar Council or Church groups.
As for allegation of fabrication of documents on 1MDB, this was confirmed by PGI, the world’s leading cyber security company. The person who stole the documents from PSI, Xavier Justo, has provided a written confession and evidence of emails/messages with key Opposition leaders and their supporters such as Clare Rewcastle, Tony Pua, Nuril Huda and others.
You might dispute my claims about the Opposition receiving billions in donations. But no one in their right mind would think any political party in Malaysia or elsewhere in the world can compete in a national elections without spending hundreds of millions.
These monies has to come from somewhere and up to now, none of the Opposition parties revealed their funding and sources. It is a great mystery why BERSIH is only demanding Najib to resign and disclose his source of donation while not asking the same of the Opposition. In fact the Opposition parties are flatly refusing to reveal their sources and even unwilling to work on a law to regulate political findings should tell you something.
The accusation that Najib government is corrupt and dysfunctional and letting down Malaysians too is highly subjective and wrong. Under Najib Malaysia has progressed in the TI corruption index and other key global KPIs.
The key issue the Opposition and BERSIH has latched on is 1MDB and the $700 million donation. If you followed the Malaysian development, an audit by the AG has found no fraud or irregularities in 1MDB as was by other audit firms earlier. As such the allegations and the so-called documents provided by the likes of Sarawak Report are fabricated evidence to attack Najib as already concluded by PGI and as alleged by Xavier Justo.
That Mahatir wants Najib out is also a well-known fact. Perhaps what is not known is that a group of Mahatir loyalists have conspired with the Opposition to entrap Najib. This is something not in public domain – yet. But mark my words – the perpetrators in this ugly plot will be exposed and charged.
Dear Calvin,
you make it sound like I wrote my article based on Malaysian media reports; a closer look may tell you that I was there and not ‘fed’ any story, but actively participating in the developing story.
Most of your points are provided without evidence and I didn’t get into the ongoing fraud allegations against Najib, because that requires a whole article in itself to make sense of the complex political and financial movements. Whereas you accuse me of bias based on foreigness I have to say your comments are biased from a government point of view that is intended to confuse, rather than uncover. it is for this reason I am not interested in an attrition of words with you.
I would be interested to know if you were At the rally to attest to the missing Malaysian flavour.
And yes, many people I spoke to want Najib out, because they see his administration as dysfunctional, corrupt and letting down Malaysians. For some this is so important, because they acknowledged (with much sadness) that finding out the truth or enjoying democratic reforms is just not realistic in contemporary Malaysia.
The Gerhard whose thesis was on Islam in Malaysia and published Modern Muslim identities: Negotiating religion and ethnicity in Malaysia; “Hoffstaedter, Gerhard Modern Muslim identities: Negotiating religion and ethnicity in Malaysia. Copenhagen, Denmark: NIAS Press, 2011.”
Me thinks this Gerhard knows more about Malaysia than many Malaysians. But I could be biased.
[…] of judges. Weak campaign-finance laws leave too much scope for political patronage. Parties can spend freely between elections and don’t have to account for contributions. An anonymous $700 million […]
[…] media campaign often was dysfunctional and chaotic, as opposed to Prabowo’s highly professional top-down approach to media management and campaign […]
[…] of judges. Weak campaign-finance laws leave too much scope for political patronage. Parties can spend freely between elections and don’t have to account for contributions. An anonymous $700 million […]
[…] under the thumb of his political paymaster, party leader Megawati Sukarnoputri, who expects him to serve not as president but as a ‘party functionary’, might well think he’s shown decisive action and […]
1) Myanmar has no law against polygamy either ways.
2) Culturally effeminate male and musculinized female are accepted norm in Asia.
Only after the onset of the West corruption through sex tourism that Gay and Trans places are commercially viable.
These are but 2 among quite a few that will alter the equality issues.
As for the rural area where most of the fairer sex are, economic condition and womb (mee) issues still dictate future.
Even though culturally like else where “no one is happy when Mom is not” still hold.
To provide a fuller and fairer picture, you should disclose other issues pertaining the current political scenario in Malaysia.
1. There is serious allegation that the Opposition and Mahatir have conspired with Clare Rewcastle-Brown to fabricate documents to show that billions have been stolen from the public fund 1MDB. A world-leading expert forensic investigations have concluded that stolen documents were tampered with to make these serious allegations. The person who stole the document (Xavier Justo) also confessed that Claire, the Opposition and the PR-friendly media tycoon offered $2 million to buy stolen documents.
2. The “donation” of $700 million was disclosed by sources within the govt who are friendly to Mahatir. It is also a common knowledge in Malaysia that Mahatir wants Najib out. The conservative faction with UMNO also siding with Mahatir to oust Najib.
3. It is also common knowledge that all political parties including the Opposition has received billions in donation. It is strange that the Opposition is demanding Najib to resign over the donation but refused to reveal their donors or support a law to regulate political funding. It is even stranger that BERSIH is completely uninterested in asking the Opposition for their sources of funds or support the political funding law.
4. BERSIH 4 was attended by almost 90% ethnic Chinese who are the supporters of DAP. The participation of other ethnic groups were marginal and there is very little Malaysian flavour to the rally. A survey of the participants revealed that the main thing they wanted was to get Najib out rather than finding out the truth or democratic reforms.
Your analysis of the BERSIH rally and the political situation in Malaysia in general displays the usual weakness of the foreign analysts. I am not doubting your analytical or intellectual abilities or impartiality.
The problem that foreign analysts encounter is that the media and NGOs in Malaysia are deeply divided along the political lines. The notion of an independent media or civil society in Malaysia doesn’t exist unlike in the more mature societies.
I would say that most English language media is either funded or controlled by the Opposition. They used to be strong on the online space but now with the help of the friendly businessmen they also control the print media. The only exception is the News Straits Times which generally operates as the government mouthpiece.
As such, foreign analysts are fed with one sided version of the Malaysian political scene reading the English language media.
To make matters worse, the NGOs (such as BERSIH, the Bar Council and even Church groups) are staunchly pro-Opposition.
So unless they speak Malay and get their news from Malay language print and social media, it is almost certain that these foreign analysts will obtain an one-sided version of the situation.
In this particular story, there are numerous inaccuracies and factual errors.
1. BERSIH started in 2006 and 90% of the participants were supporters of political parties who are more interested in removing the BN government than strengthening the nation’s democracy.
2. BERSIH has never been a politically independent organization and every rally has seen the Opposition leaders playing the main role and marshalling their supporters.
3. The Election Commission in fact had accepted and implemented most of BERSIH’s demands and the only ones they didn’t were due to the lack of legal provision.
4. The accusations of gerrymandering is also untrue as the government did not change a single seat at both the national or state levels for decades.
5. BERSIH’s claim of phantom votes, fraud and manipulations in the 2013 General Elections were proven to be complete lies. In fact many of the election monitors deployed by BERSIH supposedly to observe the electoral process were arrested for or found to have committed various offenses such as assaulting or intimidating voters, interfering with voting process, etc. I can attest to their thuggish behaviour personally as it also happened in the voting station I had voted.
I can go on and on and pick upon other inaccuracies as there are many in your analysis.
[…] the drafters themselves hailed as the most democratic charter Thailand has ever had, would not “legalize military interventions” as some misled critics have alleged; this draft constitution’s purpose was to uphold the […]
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No peace soon in Thailand’s Deep South
Well written comment that describes the reality in Thailand in a realistic manner. There’s little ambition from either side, and any progress may be reversed at the nest junction.
An annotated bibliography of Operation Coldstore
[…] Lim Chin Siong was detained without trial twice in his life: first under Lim Yew Hock’s government from 1956-1959, and subsequently under Lee Kuan Yew’s government from 1963-1969, during Operation Coldstore. […]
Change is on its way in Singapore
[…] http://www.newmandala.org/2015/09/07/change-is-on-its-way-in-singapore/ […]
Bersih 4.0 takes over Kuala Lumpur
Dear Gerhard: Why are you wasting your time with a hired-gun from Najib? His so-called facts are nothing but old UMNO gimmicks of playing the racial card of Chinese versus Malay, blaming the opposition parties, blaming the foreign journalists … blaming everyone but themselves. The regime in Malaysia today is a gang of racist, corrupt, abnoxious and arrogant opportunists who really believe the masses are asses that can be manipulated by deceits and lies. They are such compulsive liars that they truly believe their lies to be facts. Instead of debating with a hired-gun, your time is better spent to writing more objective reports on Malaysian affairs, driving Najib and his gang more hysterical. You are not only educating the Malaysian readers but also the people of the world on what is going on in Malaysia.
Coups and constitutions
Beale, Mariner and hrk would prefer that Thailand’s NRC had approved the proposed new constitution? The three of you are joking, yes?
Explain yourselves gentlemen …
Bersih 4.0 takes over Kuala Lumpur
Dear Calvin,
this is exactly why a foreign analysis is so important. You are clearly invested in the current Najib administration and opposed to Bersih. As a foreigner I can stand outside the government versus opposition dialectic. I reported from the rally, interviewed some attendees and wrote a photo essay. I have no detailed knowledge of the corruption allegations and comment no further except to say that your account above is very selective with the truth. Elections have to be run with money from somewhere, but it would raise questions in any country if a prime minister was to receive 700milllion USD from an unnamed Middle Eastern country. Funds for elections are predominantly sourced locally and i know Malaysia has weak laws regarding financing maybe Najib’s main problem is that of getting caught. Now he has to explain it and to the people I spoke to at the rally he had not done that adequately. Again I reported on what people there told me.
As to the ethnic make up of the rally, this changed over the weekend. When it started out on Saturday it was predominantly Chinese, but 90% seems way to high. I saw plenty of others, especially on Sunday. And not all Chinese vote DAP, many were there to demonstrate their dissatisfaction with the government and their wish for change. Now, what that change will look like is very much in the hands of UMNO and the government. These are party-internal politics as much as inter-party at the moment. But I am sure you know all this.
The medium of people power
Let’s not be jubilant too soon with the new found toy of drone journalism. Don’t forget that the Malaysian authority is not a group of normal politicians but a bunch of die-hard racists who own all the guns and kangaroo courts in the nation. In addition they have the Malay gangsters whom they can unleash to cause riots giving them the legitimate excuse to use these guns and courts against dissenters. Unless the military and police are diversified in proportion to the racial composition of Malaysia, I don’t see how drone journalism is a threat to the authoritarian government, nor do I see it as much help to the demonstrators. To a racist dictator power starts from the barrel of the gun. That’s why the Malaysian military and police are almost entirely Malay.
Bersih 4.0 takes over Kuala Lumpur
Gerhard,
Obviously I wasn’t there joining the yellow shirts.
I am not quite sure what kind of evidence is expected out of me to back up my arguments as most are already on the public domain or readily known facts.
If you were at the BERSIH rally I am sure you would have noted that 90% of the attendees were Chinese and most of them were supporters of Opposition parties rather than genuinely concerned Malaysians.
That the turn-out was so lop-sided ethnically did not come as a surprise to those who really understand the Malaysian politics. In fact the independent Merdeka Centre’s poll found out that the rally was supported by mostly the Chinese.
That BERSIH is a pro-Opposition is an open secret in Malaysia as are NGOs such as the Bar Council or Church groups.
As for allegation of fabrication of documents on 1MDB, this was confirmed by PGI, the world’s leading cyber security company. The person who stole the documents from PSI, Xavier Justo, has provided a written confession and evidence of emails/messages with key Opposition leaders and their supporters such as Clare Rewcastle, Tony Pua, Nuril Huda and others.
You might dispute my claims about the Opposition receiving billions in donations. But no one in their right mind would think any political party in Malaysia or elsewhere in the world can compete in a national elections without spending hundreds of millions.
These monies has to come from somewhere and up to now, none of the Opposition parties revealed their funding and sources. It is a great mystery why BERSIH is only demanding Najib to resign and disclose his source of donation while not asking the same of the Opposition. In fact the Opposition parties are flatly refusing to reveal their sources and even unwilling to work on a law to regulate political findings should tell you something.
The accusation that Najib government is corrupt and dysfunctional and letting down Malaysians too is highly subjective and wrong. Under Najib Malaysia has progressed in the TI corruption index and other key global KPIs.
The key issue the Opposition and BERSIH has latched on is 1MDB and the $700 million donation. If you followed the Malaysian development, an audit by the AG has found no fraud or irregularities in 1MDB as was by other audit firms earlier. As such the allegations and the so-called documents provided by the likes of Sarawak Report are fabricated evidence to attack Najib as already concluded by PGI and as alleged by Xavier Justo.
That Mahatir wants Najib out is also a well-known fact. Perhaps what is not known is that a group of Mahatir loyalists have conspired with the Opposition to entrap Najib. This is something not in public domain – yet. But mark my words – the perpetrators in this ugly plot will be exposed and charged.
Bersih 4.0 takes over Kuala Lumpur
Dear Calvin,
you make it sound like I wrote my article based on Malaysian media reports; a closer look may tell you that I was there and not ‘fed’ any story, but actively participating in the developing story.
Most of your points are provided without evidence and I didn’t get into the ongoing fraud allegations against Najib, because that requires a whole article in itself to make sense of the complex political and financial movements. Whereas you accuse me of bias based on foreigness I have to say your comments are biased from a government point of view that is intended to confuse, rather than uncover. it is for this reason I am not interested in an attrition of words with you.
I would be interested to know if you were At the rally to attest to the missing Malaysian flavour.
And yes, many people I spoke to want Najib out, because they see his administration as dysfunctional, corrupt and letting down Malaysians. For some this is so important, because they acknowledged (with much sadness) that finding out the truth or enjoying democratic reforms is just not realistic in contemporary Malaysia.
Bersih 4.0 takes over Kuala Lumpur
Gerhard — a foreign analyst?
This Gerhard?
http://www.socialscience.uq.edu.au/dr-gerhard-hoffstaedter
http://researchers.uq.edu.au/researcher/2706
https://anthropolitics.wordpress.com/
The Gerhard whose thesis was on Islam in Malaysia and published Modern Muslim identities: Negotiating religion and ethnicity in Malaysia; “Hoffstaedter, Gerhard Modern Muslim identities: Negotiating religion and ethnicity in Malaysia. Copenhagen, Denmark: NIAS Press, 2011.”
Me thinks this Gerhard knows more about Malaysia than many Malaysians. But I could be biased.
Reading the tea leaves of 1MDB
[…] of judges. Weak campaign-finance laws leave too much scope for political patronage. Parties can spend freely between elections and don’t have to account for contributions. An anonymous $700 million […]
Field notes on the Jokowi campaign
[…] media campaign often was dysfunctional and chaotic, as opposed to Prabowo’s highly professional top-down approach to media management and campaign […]
Thai Studies in Australia, redux
[…] share your thoughts, you may want to contribute to a recent New Mandala discussion that seeks new ideas about the future of Thai Studies in […]
Life after Anwar
[…] ANU College of Asia and the Pacific in an interview with specialist Southeast Asia studies website New Mandala […]
Reading the tea leaves of 1MDB
[…] of judges. Weak campaign-finance laws leave too much scope for political patronage. Parties can spend freely between elections and don’t have to account for contributions. An anonymous $700 million […]
What we’ve got here is failure to communicate
[…] under the thumb of his political paymaster, party leader Megawati Sukarnoputri, who expects him to serve not as president but as a ‘party functionary’, might well think he’s shown decisive action and […]
Women crucial to Myanmar’s democratic transition
A pretty comprehensive POV per western vantage.
Food for thought.
1) Myanmar has no law against polygamy either ways.
2) Culturally effeminate male and musculinized female are accepted norm in Asia.
Only after the onset of the West corruption through sex tourism that Gay and Trans places are commercially viable.
These are but 2 among quite a few that will alter the equality issues.
As for the rural area where most of the fairer sex are, economic condition and womb (mee) issues still dictate future.
Even though culturally like else where “no one is happy when Mom is not” still hold.
Bersih 4.0 takes over Kuala Lumpur
Part 2:
Allegation of corruption against Najib.
To provide a fuller and fairer picture, you should disclose other issues pertaining the current political scenario in Malaysia.
1. There is serious allegation that the Opposition and Mahatir have conspired with Clare Rewcastle-Brown to fabricate documents to show that billions have been stolen from the public fund 1MDB. A world-leading expert forensic investigations have concluded that stolen documents were tampered with to make these serious allegations. The person who stole the document (Xavier Justo) also confessed that Claire, the Opposition and the PR-friendly media tycoon offered $2 million to buy stolen documents.
2. The “donation” of $700 million was disclosed by sources within the govt who are friendly to Mahatir. It is also a common knowledge in Malaysia that Mahatir wants Najib out. The conservative faction with UMNO also siding with Mahatir to oust Najib.
3. It is also common knowledge that all political parties including the Opposition has received billions in donation. It is strange that the Opposition is demanding Najib to resign over the donation but refused to reveal their donors or support a law to regulate political funding. It is even stranger that BERSIH is completely uninterested in asking the Opposition for their sources of funds or support the political funding law.
4. BERSIH 4 was attended by almost 90% ethnic Chinese who are the supporters of DAP. The participation of other ethnic groups were marginal and there is very little Malaysian flavour to the rally. A survey of the participants revealed that the main thing they wanted was to get Najib out rather than finding out the truth or democratic reforms.
Bersih 4.0 takes over Kuala Lumpur
Gerhard,
Your analysis of the BERSIH rally and the political situation in Malaysia in general displays the usual weakness of the foreign analysts. I am not doubting your analytical or intellectual abilities or impartiality.
The problem that foreign analysts encounter is that the media and NGOs in Malaysia are deeply divided along the political lines. The notion of an independent media or civil society in Malaysia doesn’t exist unlike in the more mature societies.
I would say that most English language media is either funded or controlled by the Opposition. They used to be strong on the online space but now with the help of the friendly businessmen they also control the print media. The only exception is the News Straits Times which generally operates as the government mouthpiece.
As such, foreign analysts are fed with one sided version of the Malaysian political scene reading the English language media.
To make matters worse, the NGOs (such as BERSIH, the Bar Council and even Church groups) are staunchly pro-Opposition.
So unless they speak Malay and get their news from Malay language print and social media, it is almost certain that these foreign analysts will obtain an one-sided version of the situation.
In this particular story, there are numerous inaccuracies and factual errors.
1. BERSIH started in 2006 and 90% of the participants were supporters of political parties who are more interested in removing the BN government than strengthening the nation’s democracy.
2. BERSIH has never been a politically independent organization and every rally has seen the Opposition leaders playing the main role and marshalling their supporters.
3. The Election Commission in fact had accepted and implemented most of BERSIH’s demands and the only ones they didn’t were due to the lack of legal provision.
4. The accusations of gerrymandering is also untrue as the government did not change a single seat at both the national or state levels for decades.
5. BERSIH’s claim of phantom votes, fraud and manipulations in the 2013 General Elections were proven to be complete lies. In fact many of the election monitors deployed by BERSIH supposedly to observe the electoral process were arrested for or found to have committed various offenses such as assaulting or intimidating voters, interfering with voting process, etc. I can attest to their thuggish behaviour personally as it also happened in the voting station I had voted.
I can go on and on and pick upon other inaccuracies as there are many in your analysis.
Coups and constitutions
[…] the drafters themselves hailed as the most democratic charter Thailand has ever had, would not “legalize military interventions” as some misled critics have alleged; this draft constitution’s purpose was to uphold the […]