Ka Siong calon paling sesuai lawan Anwar?

KUALA LUMPUR 10 Feb. - Timbalan Presiden MCA, Datuk Dr. Wee Ka Siong seharusnya

menawarkan diri sebagai calon Barisan Nasional (BN) pada Pilihan Raya Kecil (PRK) Dewan Undangan Negeri (DUN) Kajang kerana beliau adalah pemimpin 'paling sesuai' untuk mencabar Ketua Pembangkang, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim di kerusi berkenaan.

Aktivis sosial, Tan Sri Robert Phang berkata, Ka Siong boleh dianggap sebagai calon heavyweight dan seorang pemimpin MCA Pusat yang pernah membantu membina semula sebuah sekolah jenis kebangsaan Cina di Kajang semasa berkhidmat dalam kerajaan.

"Sesungguhnya beliau mempunyai peluang lebih baik untuk menang," katanya dalam kenyataan di sini hari ini.

Kerusi DUN Kajang kosong selepas penyandangnya, Lee Chin Cheh daripada Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) meletak jawatan pada 27 Januari lalu bagi memberi laluan kepada Anwar untuk bertanding.

Suruhanjaya Pilihan Raya (SPR) menetapkan hari penamaan calon PRK DUN Kajang pada 11 Mac diikuti dengan hari pengundian 23 Mac ini.

Dua nama yang disebut-sebut disenarai pendek oleh MCA untuk dipertimbangkan BN sebagai calon parti itu ialah Naib Presiden MCA, Datuk Chew Mei Fun dan Ketua Pergerakan Pemuda MCA, Chong Sin Woon.

Phang berkata, Ka Siong telah membuktikan sumbangannya terhadap pendidikan masyarakat Cina dan bekas Timbalan Menteri Pelajaran itu hanya perlu meraih sokongan lebih ramai pengundi kaum berkenaan dalam PRK tersebut.

 

Source: http://www.utusan.com.my/utusan/Politik/20140211/po_10/Ka-Siong-calon-paling-sesuai-lawan-Anwar?#ixzz2szN14EA4 

‘Wee Ka Siong should take on Anwar’

PETALING JAYA: MCA Deputy President Wee Ka Siong should offer himself up as BN’s candidate for the Kajang state seat, as he is the “most suitable” leader to challenge Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim in the March 23 polls, social activist and philanthropist Robert Phang said.

“[Wee] is considered a heavy weight and national leader for MCA. When he was with the government, Wee had assisted to rebuild the Chinese Primary School in Kajang.

“Surely but truly, he will stand a better chance to win from the residents in Kajang,” the Social Care Foundation Chairman said in a statement today.

As Wee had proven his contributions towards Chinese education, Phang said the former deputy education minister only needed to secure more Chinese voters to support him.

Phang said that factor, coupled with the votebank of “Umno hardcore Malay”, would give Wee the upper hand over Anwar.

“Under these circumstances, Datuk Wee Ka Siong should offer himself to face Datuk Anwar Ibrahim’s challenge.

“If he does not come forward to this direction, it will be a great insult to MCA and Datuk Wee Ka Siong will only reflect as ‘no action but talk only leader’,” said Phang.

China Press (07-02-2014)

Agong’s speeches that confuse

FMT LETTER: From Ravinder Singh, via e-mail

The Agong’s two recent speeches, one upon the heels of the other, have left me, and I suppose many others, confused.

Celebrating Prophet Muhammad’s birthday, he was reported to have said “Let us together make every effort to strengthen brotherhood and bring about changes and improvements in the Islamic mould as taught by Prophet Muhammad in a moderate and balanced manner.”

The Agong had further said that the Prophet himself had succeeded in ridding the community of bad habits and a culture of fanatical beliefs and substituting these with a culture of tolerance and mutual understanding of one another.

“The Prophet had proven that diversity in society, regardless of whether it is in terms of religion, culture or language, is not a problem and obstacle to unity so long as the approach of ‘wasatiyyah’ (moderation) is adopted as a practice in life.”

In his own birthday speech a few days later, he told Malaysians that ‘several words including ‘Allah’ were the exclusive rights of Muslims, citing a 1986 decree by the National Fatwa Council on their use.’ 

He said the public should respect religious and social sensitivities, including on the ‘Allah’ issue, to preserve peace and stability in Malaysia.

Intrepid campaigner against corruption

I HAVE from time to time written about people past and present, who have taken a clear, unequivocal stand on ethical issues in both their personal and professional dealings.

Today, I put the spotlight on Tan Sri Robert Phang, the intrepid, if sometimes controversial, campaigner against criminality in all its manifestations.

Unlike many whom I know who will go to any length to mask their humble origins, Robert, true to form, seems to derive enormous comfort from sharing the story of his early life: a long personal journey punctuated by grinding poverty when growing up all those years ago in Penang.

It was, according to him, a life of unremitting struggle for survival for the family.
Young Robert and his siblings somehow survived, to his own utter amazement.

Robert is a survivor in the best possible sense. He is not given to self-pity, and for him, the misfortunes of his early life were part of a natural order of things that God, in His wisdom, had ordained.

The past was a series of lessons to be learnt. His deep and abiding faith in his religion is reflected in his highly developed sense of right and wrong.

His concerns for the welfare of his fellow human beings manifest themselves in his devotion to many humanitarian causes that involve both great financial expenditure as well as putting his life at risk.

This is his way of giving something back to society. For all that, and perhaps because of that, he is a much maligned and misunderstood man: his intolerance of acts of injustice, hypocrisy, and corruption has earned him names that would make your maiden aunt blush.

No accolade for him, but this has not affected him in the least. If anything, it makes him ever more determined to confront corruption in national life.

'Mammoth street rally if graft goes unpunished'

PKR MPs have warned of a mammoth rally if prominent individuals being probed by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) do not face charges after an expected amendment to the MACC Act in March.

Pandan MP Rafizi Ramli pointed out that the MACC has previously claimed that it could not present a solid case against bigwigs due to loopholes in the Act.

"Hundreds of thousands of people were on the street (during Bersih’s push for) electoral reform, but corruption is the Number One enemy of the country and many problems are rooted in corruption,” he told an anti-graft forum in Kuala Lumpur last night.

"This is an early warning to the government and the MACC. If they do not handle (corruption) well, people will get sick of it and march in the streets.

"We start in a consultative way but by March, after the law is amended and (if) ministers are still not charged, I am sure a few us will be instigators (of a mammoth rally)."

This consultative manner, he said, included the forum itself, which was aimed collating ideas to contribute to the drafting of an alternate amendment Bill.

The government's Bill to amend the MACC Act is expected to be tabled when Parliament convenes for its new session in March.

Axe AG over PKFZ foul-up, says DAP

Attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail should be sacked as he failed to secure convictions in the two Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) cases involving prominent MCA leaders, said DAP.

Commenting on the acquittal of former MCA deputy president Chan Kong Choy yesterday, DAP's Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua said Abdul Gani (right) is either incompetent or the charges were "intentionally framed to fail".

Pua, who is also a Public Accounts Committee (PAC) member, said that this is because the AG in his testimony in 2009 told the PAC that Chan could be charged with criminal breach of trust.

He said that this was based on the three letters of guarantee which Chan had signed on behalf of the government without approval from the Finance Ministry.

He said that auditors PriceWaterhouse Coopers (PwC) in their testimony also stated that these letters caused the government to pay the contractual amount to bondholders, despite services not fully rendered.

"(The) AG said that the three support letters issued by Chan were implicitly a form of guarantee from the government to ensure that there would be allocations for Port Klang Authority, to enable it to meet its obligations under the development agreement.

"As a result, Chan can be charged with criminal breach of trust under Section 409 of the Penal Code, read with Section 409B," he said.