We just need one day to send Umno-BN packing!

You were born in Malaysia, received a birth certificate as proof and received an identity card at age of 12 and with that you are a citizen of Malaysia, hence you are a Malaysian.

Why is it so hard for the ruling government to accept this simple fact and treat each and every Malaysian with fairness. Why must they keep harping about race and religion. The Constitution of Malaysia , which came into force in 1957, is the supreme law of land.

Is it that difficult to run the country with this guided Constitution? Trying to misinterpret, ignoring or quote the constitution as and when it suites the government in order to hold on to power is a sure disaster.

Each time Malaysia has a new Prime Minister, Malaysians have high hopes that he will take the country to new heights. Each PM came in with a bang, promising the sky and moon with each spewing his own slogan and using the rakyat’s money to promote it aggressively. But alas the euphoria did not last long when the NATO (no action talk only) syndrome sets in.

The 4th PM, Dr Mahathir totally destroyed the solid foundations for a workable system among the various races and religions set by his predecessors. Corruption became part and parcel of his iron-fisted rule.

The 5th PM, Abdullah Badawi, was a new hope that the rakyat were looking up to, to reverse what Tun Mahathir had done to the nation. A Mr Clean and soft-spoken type, he started a series of changes – one that included the fight against corruption. He managed to turn the old ACA into the new MACC but it did not work out well as many saw it as old wine in new bottle. With his predecessor breathing down his neck, he was toppled after only one term as PM.

Everyone is more or less accustomed to the way how these two PMs ran the country, be it corruption or the NATO syndrome.

With the 6th PM, Najib Tun Razak, the rakyat are now getting more worried. He is a totally different creature from his two predecessors. Other than the many baggages that he carried into his premiership, and in his greed for power, he has gone against every principle of his “1Malaysia People First Performance Now” slogan.

His many speeches were truly frightening. His support for Utusan and Perkasa which continues to raise racist and religious issues against the non Muslim reflects his inability to perform his duty as a PM for all Malaysians. His call for “lives and crushed bodies” to defend PutraJaya indicates that he is willing to see Malaysians die in order for him to remain in power.

What is worst is his shameless lectures to the world about Islamic moderation, democracy, corruption and what is good for the world, but back home his actions are a total 180 degree turn.

The way he handled the pre and post Bersih2.0 rally, his visit to the British PM and Queen, his meeting with the Pope and what he said after returning home clearly exposes him as a hypocrite.

He is using his position as PM to fight for his political party Umno and his presidency. He is fighting for survival and could not care a damn about the rakyat.
Najib & Co. must stop being paranoid and cast away all their imaginary enemies from within or without and stop the persecution of the innocent.

Up to this point and having seen the damage with not much hope of any improvement in the near future, I’m sad to say that I have given up on Najib & Co.

Whichever party governs or whoever wants to be PM must know and fully respect understand the Constitution of Malaysia and be guided by it in running this country.
By all means help those in need of help irrespective of colour or creed, and not those who are already rich and well connected, standing on the sidelines doing nothing.

Malaysia belongs to all Malaysians. Islam is the official religion of Malaysia. We respect the King and the Constitution.

We wanted to live in peace and harmony among all the various races/ethnic groups, we respect each other and all religions No one is planning to overthrow a legitimate government or King nor using religion, Jews, communists or foreigners to take over the country.

Malaysians do not need to follow Egypt, Tunisia or Libya to remove their oppressive leaders. We only need one day to topple Umno/BN – on polling day of the 13th General Election.

- Richard Toh

'Bersih' Is Not 'Clean'?

We have just finished a wonderful holiday in Malaysia. Except for a few things, like the toilets and the drivers, it was great. The people are friendly and helpful. The food is quite exciting and the country is spectacular.

There was one incident, which caused us no concern and no problem, but left us more than a little baffled. We were in the Chow Kit area buying some things to take home when we found some shirts with “BERSIH 2” on them. We asked the man what the word meant and he said “clean”.

So, we bought some. They were good quality and cheap. As we were leaving the stall area we were approached by a man who warned us not to wear the shirts or we would be in trouble with the police. We went back to our hotel thinking that we misheard the man at the stall who sold us the shirts and that bersih must be a very dirty word. So we asked the concierge and he told us it meant “clean”. So we were confused.

At dinner that night, we struck up a conversation with the people at the next table. We raised the matter with them. They told us the shirts represented a call to the people and Government for clean and fair elections. They also told us that people wearing the shirts are being locked up without trial for waging war against the King. They explained that the Government and some people were against free and fair elections.

Fair enough, it is not our country. What we still do not understand is why the King would be against free and fair elections because he is not elected. Our friends warned us that even talking about free and fair elections could land us in goal.

Perhaps the government could put signs at the airport warning travellers that bersih is a dirty word in Malaysia and that the King and Government are against free and fair elections. In this way, no one will make a mistake that could land them in trouble.

Doug and Helen White,
Flinders Park,
South Australia

AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH

We, the undersigned doctors, wish not to enter into the polemics of the Bersih 2.0 march on 9th July 2011 but would like to clarify the inconvenient truth.

We are outraged at the incidents, and the subsequent responses from the authorities, to the events where tear gas and chemical laced water were shot into the compounds of Tung Shin and Chinese Maternity Hospitals, two adjacent buildings along Jalan Pudu, Kuala Lumpur, with scant regard for the safety of patients, staff and the general public who were at the buildings that afternoon.

Hospitals are considered as safe sanctuaries for all, even during war times, but these consecrated places of refuge and protection were violated by the defence forces that afternoon. Police even entered the buildings in search of some of these peaceful marchers. What was most frightening and witnessed by many was the unprovoked violent assault within the hospital compounds and apprehension of several protesters who had merely run into the hospitals to seek shelter from the tear gas and the water cannons!

It is repulsive that the authorities entrusted with policing the nation and protecting the weak and needy, have shamelessly denied publicly, the occurrence of these incidents IN SPITE of countless photo/video and eye witness accounts of what was evident to all independent observers.

A few of the undersigned were actually visiting or working in the hospitals concerned at the time of the events and will gladly provide sworn affidavits, if required, as to veracity of the incidents

The Malaysian public expect holders of high public office to honour their positions accorded by the citizens, by discharging their duties with moral integrity, dignity and transparency.

Their failure to do so raises the public's doubts in their competence and credibility as much as it demeans those high offices.

Dr Ng Kwee Boon - Consultant Obstetrician & Gynaecologist
Datin Dr Low Paik See - Consultant Paediatrician
Dato’ Dr Musa Mohd Nordin - Consultant Paediatrician & Neonatologist
Dr Mazeni Alwi - Consultant Paediatric Cardiologist
Dr David Quek - Consultant Cardiologist
Dr Sheikh Johari Bux - Consultant Obstetrician & Gynaecologist
Dr Steve Wong - Consultant Plastic Surgeon
Dr Ahmad Farouk Musa - Consultant Cardiothoracic Surgeon
Dr Ng Swee Choon - Consultant Cardiologist

Bersih 2.0

Below is Bersih 2.0's statement in full:

2pm, July 9, Stadium Merdeka: Malaysia's moment of truth

Malaysians from all walks of life have travelled a very long road to reach this defining point in our nation's history.

With less than 24 hours to our intended peaceful gathering, our resolve to walk the last, most difficult mile as one united people in pursuit of clean and fair elections and a better Malaysia for all is firmer than ever.

Our reason for gathering is pure and simple – to demand the electoral roll be cleaned, that the postal voting system be reformed, that indelible ink be used, a minimum 21 day campaign period be instated, free and fair access to media for all be provided, public institutions be strengthened, and for corruption as well as dirty politics to be stopped.

The authorities have put obstacle after obstacle where they only needed to provide sincere cooperation to win the trust and confidence of the people.

Having faced half hearted offers of stadiums, arrogance regarding meetings as well as denials of permits, arrests, detentions and so much more, we feel that we have done all that is humanly possible to demonstrate sincerity and good faith in dealing with the government – but we have only been met with reversed decisions and stone walls.

There are no walls however, that will arrest the advance of the cause of peace and justice. Come the 9th of July, we will uphold our constitutional right to converge peacefully on Stadium Merdeka in Kuala Lumpur.

No government agency has any right whatsoever to prevent Malaysians from exercising their freedom of movement and access to our capital city. No threat or intimidation can overturn this fundamental truth.

Malaysians have now seen for themselves the degree of paranoia and lack of principled leadership that seems to have gripped the government. It is thus all the more imperative that patriotic Malaysians rise now and take this stand together to save Malaysia from slipping further into this insane darkness.

Since the beginning of Bersih 2.0, we have witnessed nothing but the utmost bravery and commitment to peace and justice demonstrated by ordinary Malaysians from every walk of life.

Inspired by this example, the Bersih 2.0 leadership reiterates our own unyielding commitment to our shared cause, and to being at Stadium Merdeka at 2pm tomorrow. We will meet at the carpark, and trust that the doors will be opened for us.

This is Malaysia's single most important defining moment in recent history, and we are fully confident that the rakyat will heed the call to safeguard the principles Malaysia was founded on and together ensure that we pass down to our children a nation that is just, democratic and united in love for one another.

To My Friends in Malaysia - John Malott

All Americans are happy this weekend, as we prepare to celebrate the 225th anniversary of our declaration of Independence from the Brits, the same people who colonized you!

(And to my British cousins, I would like to say that we are all so happy that we have been friends and allies these many years!! God Bless You -- and I also think that Kate and Pippi are really smashing !!)

This weekend I am thinking not just about July 4th, but also July 9th.

What do these two days have in common?

They are both about the rights that all people have.

Those rights come from God, not from governments. They do not come from a President or a Prime Minister. And they certainly do not come from whoever the power-inflated, pompous, self-important IGP happens to be this year.

It is not up to a government to tell us what we can think or write.

It is not up to an IGP to tell us whether we can assemble peaceably in common cause.

The American Declaration of Independence, proclaimed on July 4, 1776, 225 years ago, said:

"All experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.

"But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.

"Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states."

Put into modern English,

"There comes a point when-

"We have had it.

"Maybe we were willing to suffer and be patient -- that is the way most of us are in the face of power -

"But that's it! No more! Enough is enough!

"We have had it with those who act like tyrants.

"We have had it with those people who think we work for them, and think we will do whatever they say --

"Who think we will suffer silently.

"So now we have decided --

"It's time for change.

"We are going to stand up for ourselves

"and for our freedom

''and for our rights.

"which God has given to us."

Happy 4th of July.

And Happy 9th of July to my Malaysian friends.

- John Malott is the former US ambassador to Malaysia and still maintains an avid interest in the region