MCA has become a burden for BN

On Wednesday the MCA presidential council expels deputy president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek with immediate effect for his sex scandal in 2007 which was claimed to have tarnished the party's image.

Ong Tee Keat VS Chua Soi Lek

MCA president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat, in announcing the decision, said the decision was taken on the recommendation of the party's disciplinary committee. It triggers the internal crisis.

The MCA crisis occurs again and such an internal crisis always arises. It created political instability each time crisis arises. MCA became weak and the role of represent the aspiration of the Chinese community remains questionable.

This time the crisis has become so severe; in particular the crisis would be likely to be worse than the one before and has been ridiculed to a large extent.

The crisis provided a golden opportunity for the opposition to challenge the ruling party’s dominance The MCA president has his own internal weaknesses and miscalculations have also contributed to the problematic political situation. The crisis seems lack internal democracy and dynamic leadership.

The ability of MCA to reach out and attend to popular bases, in both rural and urban areas proves to be minimal. More importantly, during the last eight by-elections, MCA have failed to develop clear answers to Chinese pressing problems.

MCA was proven losing credibility and remains unable to mobilize Chinese community for political reform.

Undeniably, MCA crisis could become an intolerable burden for BN if the voters and Chinese society reject MCA.

Could the crisis be resolved through a mediator?

What MCA ought to do next?

PAS retains Permatang Pasir state seat

PAS has retained the Permatang Pasir state seat in the by-election today when its candidate, Mohd Salleh Man, 52, polled 9,618 votes to win by a majority of 4,551 votes.

Mohd Salleh Man

The Penang PAS commissioner beat Rohaizat Othman, 38, of the Barisan Nasional (BN) who garnered 5,067 votes in the straight fight.

Voter turnout was 73.1% of the 20,290-strong electorate compared 83% last year. There were 83 spoilt votes.

The constituency has 20,290 registered voters, comprising 72.36% Malays, 25.85% Chinese, 1.63% Indians and 0.16% others.

PKR Lunas rep quits party

Lunas state assemblyman Mohd Radzhi Salleh announced Sunday he had quit Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) to become an independent member of the Kedah legislative assembly.


Mohd Radzhi Salleh

Radzhi, who is chairman of the Tourism, Community Development and Human Resources Committee, said he would retain the post of state executive councillor as the appointment was made by the Sultan of Kedah.

His decision to leave PKR was due to a loss of confidence in the PKR leadership and in keeping with the dissolution of the PKR Padang Serai division announced by division acting chief Jamaludin Abu Hassan who himself had quit the party.

Ironically, a good leadership is all about integrity; therefore the question arises whether Anwar Ibrahim is a man of integrity?

What is DAP’s Mission?

Leadership and quality of Pakatan Rakyat representatives

Leadership and quality of Pakatan Rakyat representatives is obviously a controversial issue.

Can you believe what you read and see?

How to get a ticket to heaven?

Claims by an opposition leader that those who vote for PAS will earn a ticket to heaven.

Claims by BN leader what prevents Muslims from entering heaven was the sins they had committed.

Muhyiddin : Ong and Tiong should sort out PKFZ dispute amicably

The PKFZ project is an important national project to foster sustainable economic growth.

Unfortunately, the dispute arises from the fact that, from a political economical perspective, it is unlikely that the quarreling in the open had occurred.

Ong Tee Keat

The PKFZ dispute has become a major issue which attracted the attention as well as speculation among the people in the evaluation of the Barisan Nasional government.

Tiong King Sing

Clearly, some measure ought to be taken more seriously by Barisan Nasional to satisfactorily resolve the crucial controversy.

Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin wants both the parties who are embroiled in a dispute over the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) issue to resolve the matter amicably seems to be the correct alternative solutions to the problem.

"It's not for me to teach them... they are grown-ups and also leaders of political parties," he said, adding that he would not stop any party from proceeding with their action because it was their right to do so.

Straight fight between PAS state commissioner and UMNO Young Turk

The Permatang Pasir state by-election scheduled for 25 Ogos 2009 is a straight fight between PAS state commissioner Mohd Salleh Man, 55, and Young Turk Rohaizat Othman, 38, from Umno.

Rohaizar Othman

Rohaizat Othman, a 38-year-old lawyer, married with one son, is a law graduate from the International Islamic University (UIA).

Mohd Salleh

A graduate from Universiti Malaya, Mohd Salleh is self employed, previously having worked as a private school manager, a mosque official and an independent religious preacher.

The question remains: Does Rohaizat Othman have a chance of winning the Permatang Pasir seat?

Ironically, it does not ruled out the possibility of Rohaizat Othman winning the seat.

Although Permatang Pasir is a PAS stronghold, but it is believed that UMNO has certain effective strategies to undermine the opposition and winning the seat.

It is strongly believed that UMNO will play the development card as one of the main strategies other than the other effective strategies to win the heart and mind of the voters.

Ironically, development has often been left out in Permatang Pasir, and only BN can bring the area into the mainstream development programme.

The constituency has 20,290 voters and one postal vote, with 72.36 percent of the electorate being Malays, 25.85 percent Chinese, 1.63 percent Indians and 0.16 percent others. It has 300 new voters.

DPM : Soft landing to teach and learn Science, Maths in BM

The scrapping of Science and Mathematics in English (PPSMI) would start in stages, starting 2012 for Year 1, Year 4, Form 1 and Form Four. Form six and matriculation students are not involved.

Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said both Science and Mathematics would be taught in English and BM for national schools and mother tongue languages for vernacular schools, beginning 2010.

It seems that the public welcome such a wise decision and support it.

Although it is a highly subjective but it is a fair and just decision-making to the affected students.

Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said students sitting for Ujian Penilaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) would be provided options to answer questions either in English or BM till 2016.

He stressed that the government would allow the present cohorts of students affected or "trapped" by the change in policy to study both subjects in both BM and English.

BN can win Permatang Pasir seat

The by-election in Permatang Pasir is set to be a straight fight between arch-rivals PAS and Umno.

It will be a test case for Pakatan Rakyat’s sincerity in relation to the internal struggle. It is well known fact that the opposition coalition is a fragile coalition and the duration is remains questionable.

The by-election will measure the popularity of Pakatan Rakyat coalition and set the tone for future cooperation.

Ironically, Pakatan are struggling with his own internal struggle. The internal and intra-party differences in Pakatan Rakyat can hurt the support for PAS.

Undeniably, PAS is the minority in a Pakatan Rakyat Penang state government and the internal disputes benefit BN and weaken the support for PAS.

By far, BN can win Permatang Pasir state seat by taking advantage of the divided Pakatan Rakyat but it has to work hard, run the strategically campaign to win the heart and mind of the people.

The Election Commission fixed Aug 25 for the Permatang Pasir state seat by-election in Penang. Nominations will be on Aug 17.

The by-election will fall during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadhan as fasting is expected to begin on Aug 21.

Permatang Pasir - which is one of three state seats in PKR leader Anwar Ibrahim's Permatang Pauh parliamentary constituency - is the sole PAS seat in Penang.