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Merdeka 2014: Stand up the Negaraku in cinemas nation-wide, 28 August-16 September!
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Cartoon Zunar: Jalur Gemilang!!! pic.twitter.com/Bw6NAvAo90
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Mushiro: Why the need to arrest these PPS personnel after the Merdeka celebrations if it was not to show that the IGP is flexing his muscles and playing politics?
The law allows members of the public to make a public arrest. So, was it wrong for the PPS men to be in the Esplanade overseeing the security of the function?
The police cannot even protect the house of the Penang CM; a Molotov cocktail was thrown at it early this morning. Yet the police prioritised the arrest of these PPS men, which would have been planned and strategised in the last few days.
Malaysiakini
7:43AM Sep 1, 2014
Unforgettable Merdeka for the wrong reasons
FREE YOURSAY ‘The PPS has been around for many years. Why is the IGP only taking action now?’
154 PPS men arrested in Penang Merdeka swoop
Then, we had the police detaining members of the Penang Voluntary Patrol Unit (PPS) on some still mysterious grounds. From what I understand, these PPS members did not cause any “public unrest” by participating in the Merdeka parade, nude.
Or has wearing purple become offensive? For me, welcoming Merdeka was far more boring, no fireworks, waving flags, marching in grand parades and ostentatious rituals.
It was just the singing of the ‘Negara Ku’ in church this morning. In these trying and frightening times, that gave me much more comfort and sustenance than public displays of so-called patriotism. Yeah, Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka! Poor Tunku Abdul Rahman.
Negarawan: The PPS has been around for many years. Why is the IGP only taking action now? The PPS has rendered good service to the people of Penang, some say even more than the police. So, does the IGP have anything better to do, like fighting real crime?
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Bystander: Law-abiding citizens who are caring enough to volunteer for crime watch duties have been arrested and remanded for a day. If this is not intimidation and confrontational, I don’t know what is. They are good in bullying civilians especially those who are aligned to Pakatan, but not the intruders from Sulu.
Truth: The rakyat needs to know more about PPS, their roles, duties, their working hours, etc. It’s very dangerous to have a group of people working in the states without a specific portfolio.
Can each state set up its own ‘army’? Can any group of people set up their own ‘patrolling group’? Can PPS arrest people? Can they inspect vehicles? If they patrol the neighborhood, what are the hours?
How is the rakyat able to identify them? Just from their vests? Badges? ID cards? Can they go for training? Too many questions unanswered.
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Wira: Will IGP Khalid Abu Bakar next arrest Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng for forming a government agency that does not have police approval?
Will the police also arrest the Village and Security Development Committee (JKKK) members formed by Putrajaya in states run by the opposition. They are interfering with and overlapping the functions of the local authorities, the roles of which are prescribed by law.
This sweep by police is illegal. The Penang state government must take the police to court with state resources.
1419: What’s the reason these folks got arrested? It just doesn’t make sense because they were not conducting or organising any public event without a permit. They were merely attending a Merdeka event as Malaysians.
For more comments, click on:
http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/273279
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HAPPY 57TH MERDEKA, LIM GUAN ENG! HERE’S AN EXPLOSIVE WISH FOR YOU AND FAMILY!
A molotov cocktail was thrown at the house of Lim Guang at 11.45pm, Saturday 30 August 2014. He was home with his wife Betty Chew and their two sons during the incident.
Molotov cocktail thrown at house of Lim Guan Eng, Penang Chief Minister
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In the last few days, PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli and his party colleague Padang Serai MP N. Surendran, Shah Alam MP and PAS central committee member Khalid Samad, and DAP Seri Delima assemblyman R. S. N. Rayer have been charged for sedition.
DAP Seputeh MP Teresa Kok and PKR Batu MP Tian Chua are also facing trial for sedition, while former Perak MP and Changkat Jering assemblyman Nizar Jamaluddin was charged with criminal defamation for a statement he had allegedly made two years ago.
Critics said the move as an attempt by Putrajaya to silence its political foes.
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Until there is a level electoral playing field the sort of political change Malaysians dream of will remain mission impossible and the Merdeka Dream a mirage.
Malaysiakini
8:24AM Aug 31, 2014
Going beyond the Merdeka mirage
COMMENT Malaysians celebrate Merdeka. It is a worthy thing to do but do most people know why? Many may give the right answers but not the right reasons.
The tragic MH370 and MH17 have tempered the mood for celebration. On the social front, it is the gradual demise of the Merdeka nation and democracy that despair many.
The devolution of freedom in the country with unprecedented numbers of citizens and politicians charged for sedition brings a gloom worse than the annoying and health‑destroying seasonal haze and diminishes our sentiments of Merdeka.
Malaysiakini itself faces a legal suit over something inconsequential.
Then there are the 3 R’s of ridiculous religious restrictions.
The people of Sabah in celebrating Malaysia Day are making a change and instead of performing the annual ritual in an open public place, will retreat into their churches to pray.
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Merdeka ushered in a new nation of equals. But in reality all Malaysians are not made equal.
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The independence of a nation, the achievement of self‑rule, the birth of a democratic nation, the hope of a nation, the freedom of the people’s participation, political liberation and much more ‑ have all been lost in the governance of a country by the same old political alliance for 57 long years, a political bloc which many of us once supported and believed in.
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That is why the majority popular votes went to the opposition in the last general election but unfair electoral delineations prevented a change of government.
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STEVE OH is the author of the novel Tiger King of the Golden Jungle and composer of the musical of the same title. He believes in good governance and morally uprightt leadership.
For the full article: http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/273203
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Malaysiakini
9:00AM Aug 30, 2014
57th Merdeka greets a divided nation
YOURSAY ‘Sabah churches are to be commended for taking a stand.’
Sabah churches to skip N-Day celebrations
What is there to celebrate when respect, acceptance and tolerance is missing from our national life? What is there to celebrate when we are suspicious of one another and have hate and envy in our hearts and minds?
I rather mourn for the loss of our spirit of independence and the vision of our forefathers of a Malaya and later Malaysia predicated on justice, fairness and happiness amongst all of its peoples.
Ace: We are not unpatriotic and do not want to sound so, but (just as Gerard Lourdesamy said) is there really anything to celebrate if every day we are reminded by some bigots that we are ‘pendatang’, to go back to such and such a country if you don’t want to submit to their (extremist and unreasonable) views and demands, and those with power to do something just stood by with their arms folded?
Is there really much to celebrate if abuses, wastage and corruption are so rife that some can get away with hundreds of millions of illicit income while so many are trying to eke out a living and yet get no help?
Peacemaker: Sabah churches are to be commended for taking a stand and sending a clear signal to Putrajaya that its treatment of Sabah as a second-class state and merely one of the 14 states of Malaysia is wrong and dishonest.
Will the churches in Kapit, Sibu, Lawas and Kuching send a similar signal?
Kingfisher: These are the first salvoes of discontent from a long suffering part of the federation that some feel has been taken for granted if not dealt with like a vassal.
This silent and peaceful expression of dissent from a significant community must be given due regard by the federal government as simmering discontent could coalesce into a revolt for separation if those in control at the centre continue to arrogantly ignore legitimate grievances or take repressive measures to suppress dissent.
Guns ‘n’ Roses: Do you know what the basic problem is, my dear Christian brothers and sisters in the ‘Land Below the Wind’?
Your ‘anak negeri’ politicians, such as Huguan Siou Joseph Pairin Kitingan and his cohorts are spineless and toothless. They were too easily bought over by the Umno-dominated federal government.
I was a Semenanjung medical doctor who worked for six and a half years in your beloved land, loving every minute of it between 1989 and 1995. I witnessed how your PBS government was sold wholesale to the Umno federal government.
The mass exodus of PBS politicians, and the formation of numerous self-centred political parties which became BN-aligned was crassly sickening and crassly despicable, to say the least.
What more is there to say? Your weak and easily-corruptible indigenous political parties sold out Sabah wholesale without a moment’s hesitation.
For more: http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/273140
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57th Merdeka Day message by Lim Kit Siang
Media Statement | Updated: August 31, 2014
(First published on: August 31, 2014 07:30 MYT)
What is the meaning of the 57th Merdeka Day celebrations?
Are we truly free and independent Malaysians or are we swayed and blinded by the illusion of independence and freedom perpetuated by government-controlled propaganda of the traditional mainstream media?
Since last week, social media especially on Twitter had been flooded with a phenomenon sparked by netizens via the hashtag, #IfMerdekaAdsWereReal.
It saw a myriad of Malaysians expressing their frustrations towards the illusion of freedom, prosperity and harmony orchestrated via Merdeka ads on television.
The ads try to portray a false image of Malaysian life, when in reality we are facing an environment of fear and a sense of intolerance amongst each other due to racial, religious and cultural differences.
After 57 years, Malaysia is still struggling to build a society capable of living in harmony without regard to one’s race, creed or political leanings.
One of the tweets said “if Merdeka ads were real, the government shouldn’t need to waste funds on the 1Malaysia campaign”.
As of now, the 1Malaysia slogan by the Prime Minister is nothing less than a branding exercise with little or no meaning.
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The divide-and-rule of the British colonial past are still being perpetuated today.
We are still very much polarized and far from being united.
We still have draconian laws inherited from the British in force to deny the right of speech and expression and democratic liberties such as the Sedition Act and other oppressive laws, as illustrated by the slew of selective and malicious prosecution against Pakatan Rakyat leaders in the past 10 days.
On this 57th Merdeka Day, I call on Malaysians to turn the recent unprecedented twin air disasters into a new beginning to forge national unity although the country had never been so divided and polarised since Independence in 1957.
This is the greatest challenge not only to all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, region and politics but also to the leaders in the various spheres in the country.
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weehingthong 