It's UMNO who are ungrateful to Malaysian Chinese

Media Statement by DAP Socialist Youth (DAPSY) National Chairman and MP for Rasah Loke Siew Fook on Tuesday, 14th April 2009 in Petaling Jaya.

UMNO should instead be grateful to the Chinese community for prolonging their political survival in the 1999 general election.

DAPSY expresses the uttermost outrage over the most distasteful and divisive statement made by the Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin that the Chinese voters were not grateful to the Barisan Nasional and wanted to be kingmakers in Malaysian politics.

Such an insensitive statement, coming from the No 2 leader in the country just barely a week after he took office, showed how out of touch the BN leadership were with the constituents on the ground and their failure to understand the sentiments and aspirations of the Malaysian electorate.

Muhyiddin thought that the Malaysian Chinese voters still subscribed to the old way of “beggar politics” where they would give their votes to the BN in exchange for tokens of allocations to Chinese schools and temples during election season. Let us tell Muhyiddin that their old trick no longer works. The people aspire for a fair and just government where their needs and basic rights to education and development are look into on a sustainable and structural basis, not tokenism.

Muhyiddin’s statement also exemplifies the feudalistic mentality of UMNO leaders who think that they are forever the political masters in the country and the people including the Chinese community are duty-bound to elect them into power. This is also an outdated idea and the people must teach the UMNO leaders that the rights and mandate to govern must be earned and won through good governance, fair policies and clean leadership. The people are the real masters and they have every right to determine who should be the government of the day.

Instead of calling the Chinese community as being ungrateful to the BN government, I would say that it is UMNO who are ungrateful to the Chinese community. It is a known fact that it was the Chinese voters who saved and prolonged UMNO’s political survival in the 1999 general elections where majority of the Malay electorate deserted UMNO during the height of the “Reformasi” movement. In fact, Muhyiddin’s boss, Prime Minister Najib escaped a humiliating defeat by a mere 241-vote majority in his Pekan constituency thanks to the Chinese votes.

Muhyiddin owed all Malaysians a public apology. . Read more!

Bukit Antarabangsa tragedy

Media Statement by DAP Socialist Youth (DAPSY) National Chairman and MP for Rasah Loke Siew Fook on 9th December 2008 in Petaling Jaya

The Federal Government must handle the relief efforts in the Bukit Antarabangsa tragedy professionally and fairly

It is very disturbing to hear that many residents living within the danger zone at Bukit Antarabangsa refused to move out from their houses although advised by the authorities for fear of their belongings being stolen. This shows that the confidence level to the rescue team in particular the police force is at a very low point. Although the place is currently very dangerous and facing a tragedy, the fact that the people there have no confidence in the police to take good care of their properties and safeguard their interest reflects very badly on the professionalism of the police force.

The Federal Government must view this concern seriously and immediately direct the Inspector General of Police to give full assurance to the public that the police will act professionally in handling the tragedy and any wrongdoings or theft by any quarters will be taken sternest action. DAPSY hopes that the residents will move out voluntarily for the time being to avoid any mishaps and to facilitate all rescue efforts.

DAPSY expresses our sympathy to all the victims in the Bukit Antarabangsa tragedy and we shared their sorrows and sadness. We urge the government be it federal or state to provide all necessary assistance to the victims and the affected residents.

However, the government must be seen as acting fairly and must not be seen as giving double-standard treatment. We feel uncomfortable with the suggestion by the International Trade and Industry Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin to provide free hotel rooms to the affected residents. This is most unprecedented.

We would like to remind the government that if this is done for Bukit Antarabangsa victims, then it will open a precedent for all natural disasters victims in the future. Is the government prepare to provide free hotel rooms for all victims whenever there is a disaster be it in kampong or small villages? In other areas, the government has always relocates the affected residents in community halls or schools as a temporary measure.

We have nothing personal against the residents in Bukit Antarabangsa but the government must treat all victims in such tragedy fairly and equally.


-Loke Siew Fook- . Read more!

MB Negeri Sembilan tak faham Perlembagaan

Kenyataan media oleh Ketua Pembangkang DUN Negeri Sembilan merangkap ADUN Lobak dan Ahli Parlimen Rasah Loke Siew Fook pada hari Rabu, 10 September 2008 di Seremban.

MENTERI BESAR NEGERI SEMBILAN TIDAK FAHAM PERLEMBAGAAN NEGERI

Saya merujuk kepada kenyataan yang dibuat oleh Menteri Besar Negeri Sembilan Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan semalam yang memetik beliau menyatakan bahawa beliau akan membubarkan Dewan Undangan Negeri jika terdapat Ahli Dewan Undangan Negeri (ADUN) melompat parti hingga membolehkan pembangkang menguasai negeri berkenaan.

Kenyataan beliau seolah-olah membayangkan ketidakpercayaan beliau kepada ketaatan ADUN-ADUN Barisan Nasional. Sekiranya ada ADUN BN yang ingin meninggalkan BN dan menyertai Pakatan Rakyat, saya mengalu-alukan tindakan mereka. Tindakan mereka bukanlah untuk kepentingan peribadi tetapi boleh mencetuskan perubahan yang besar dalam arena politik negeri yang semakin berpecah dan segala keputusan pentadbiran kerajaan dibuat untuk kepentingan segelintir pihak tertentu.

Kenyataan tersebut juga menunjukkan keangkuhan Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan dan beliau seolah-olah tidak mengerti kuasa beliau sebagai Menteri Besar dan langsung tidak menghormati Institusi Diraja. Menteri Besar hanya boleh menasihatkan DYMM Yang Dipertuan Besar Negeri Sembilan untuk membubarkan DUN. Kuasa untuk membubarkan DUN terletak dalam tangan Tuanku. Tuanku boleh menolak nasihat daripada Menteri Besar dalam perkara pembubaran DUN seperti yang termaktub dalam Fasal 56 (2) Perlembagaan Negeri.

Yang Dipertuan Besar Negeri Sembilan sebagai Ketua Negeri juga boleh melantik mana-mana Ahli Dewan Undangan Negeri yang mendapat sokongan majoriti dalam DUN untuk memegang jawatan Menteri Besar tertakluk kepada beberapa syarat tertentu. Kenyataan Menteri Besar Negeri Sembilan tersebut seolah-olah membelakangkan kuasa Yang Dipertuan Besar Negeri Sembilan.

Saya menyeru Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan supaya mendapatkan nasihat daripada Penasihat Undang-undang Negeri terlebih dahulu sebelum mengeluarkan sebarang kenyataan yang berhubung-kait dengan kuasa dan perkara dalam Perlembagaan Negeri atau Undang-undang Tubuh Negeri untuk mengelakkan sebarang keraguan di kalangan rakyat. . Read more!

Clarification on "ISA statement"

I received a call from MP for PJ Utara Sdr Tony Pua last night informing me that there are a lot of attacks on the DAP by many bloggers over the "statement" by DAP NS Deputy Chairman, Sdr P Gunasekaren which was reported by The Star online (reports attached below). The report quoted Sdr Guna as calling on the police to invoke ISA against the demonstrators.

I have immediately called up Sdr Guna to clarify the matter and he denied making the statement and said he was misquoted. Guna and I went to the The Star's office in Seremban this afternoon and spoke to the reporter who covered the event yesterday. The reporter admitted that he misinterpreted the statement and a correction over the confusion will be reported in The Star tomorrow. In actual fact, a group of DAP NS leaders went to lodge a police report yesterday over the threat by Minister of Home Affairs Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar to use ISA against the forum organizers. The report also called on the police to act against the demonstrators who disrupted the forum.

I would like to reiterate that the DAP's position on ISA has always been consistent that we call for the total abolishment of the Act. We never agreed to use ISA against anyone, not even to our political opponents or extreme views that we disagreed with such as those who disrupted the Bar Council forum. We believe that there are adequate laws to deal with them. As such, the so-called "statement" by DAP NS Deputy Chairman to call for the use of ISA is inaccurate and was misquoted.

I hope this clarification will clear the confusion over the statement and I hope those who criticized the "statement" will publish my clarifications too.

Thank you.

Loke Siew Fook
DAP NS Chairman


Tuesday August 12, 2008 MYT 3:35:09 PM
Cops urged to act against forum-bashers

SEREMBAN: Negri Sembilan DAP wants the police to charge the demonstrators who disrupted and threatened to storm the Bar Council forum on Saturday.

Its state deputy chief and Senawang asemblyman P. Gunasekaren said police should have arrested the demonstrators rather than allowed three of them to enter the Bar Council office, which was private property.

“It is sad that the police allowed them to dictate terms. The demonstrators should be arrested and detained under the Internal Security Act for stoking racial sentiments,” he said when met at the district police station in Seremban 2.

Earlier, Bukit Kepayang assemblyman Cha Kee Chin lodged a report at the police station against the demonstrators. Accompanying him were Seremban MP John Fernandez, Temiang assemblyman Ng Chin Tsai and Gunasekaren.

In his report Cha said he failed to understand why the police couldn’t control the crowd and ask them to disperse although they numbered only a few hundred.

“We have to reiterate here that the DAP respects Article 3 of the Federal Constitution which states that Islam is the official religion of this country.

“But Article 10 of the same Constitution also states that we have freedom of association and freedom of speech,” he said.

Cha said the DAP was also unhappy with statements by Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar and Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, which he described as “threatening.”

“The participants at the forum were multi-racial. They were only having discussions in the best interest of all Malaysians,” he said.. Read more!