Fairus finally resigns from Penanti state seat

Former Penang deputy chief minister Mohammad Fairus Khairuddin finally resigned as Penanti state assemblyman and it hints that Pakatan Rakyat has serious internal conflicts or leaders who keep secrets from each other.


Embattled Mohammad Fairus Khairuddin, who quit as the Penang deputy chief minister 1 earlier this month after allegations of being involved in illegal quarrying, resigned his Penanti state seat to force a by-election that could decide his replacement.

His resignation will lead to a by-election within 60 days in Penanti, which is under Anwar's Permatang Pauh parliamentary constituency.

Mohammad Fairus, 33, said he took this step to resign as a state representative to protect the interest of his party, Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR).

It is the sixth by-election in less than a year and it was claimed that the by-election is deliberately planned to gain popularity and support. The party wants to create a 'wave' of support, thinking that they can always win back the seats that their assemblymen had vacated.

Ironically, the resignation hints that Pakatan Rakyat has serious internal conflicts or leaders who keep secrets from each other. The only two Malay PKR assemblymen in Penang are Batu Maung's Abdul Malik Abul Kassim and Sungai Bakap's Maktar Shapee.

Abdul Malik, who is a state executive councillor, is seen as the frontrunner but Anwar did not pick him last year when Pakatan Rakyat took the state from Barisan Nasional, opting instead for the inexperienced Fairus.

The allegations of Fairus being involved in illegal quarrying seem to be another cause of his resignation.

By far, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission has completed its investigations and has handed the papers over to its prosecution division but Fairus has yet to be charged with any offence.

It was reported that DAP and PAS, PKR's partners in the Pakatan Rakyat coalition, are not happy about forcing another by-election as the people were suffering from election fatique. There have already been five by-elections since the March 8 2008 general election.

The Penanti seat is under the Permatang Pauh parliamentary seat, held by Anwar. It has an electorate of 15,421, of which 70% are Malays, 26.7% Chinese and 2.7% Indians.

Fairus won by majority of 2219 votes. Penanti falls within the Permatang Pauh parliamentary constituency (P044), held by Anwar, is a large seat in the middle of Seberang Prai.

Permatang Pauh has 58,459 voters and Penanti has the smallest number of voters in Permatang Pauh with 15,380 voters, the other two constituencies are Seberang Jaya with 22,790 voters and Permatang Pasir 20,289 voters.

During the March 8 2008 general election, Fairus won by a 2,219 vote majority after obtaining 7,346 votes to Umno's Datuk Abdul Jalil Abdul Majid who obtained 5,127 votes.

UMNO Nasarudin crossed over to PKR

Most of the politicians come together in politics for the self-interested reason. Self-interest is a behavior that is benefiting the self at the risk of a disadvantage to someone else.

Perak Bota state assemblyman Datuk Nasarudin Hashim has quit Umno to join PKR can be seen as a defection for political self-interested.

Datuk Nasarudin Hashim

Datuk Nasarudin Hashim, 58, Anwar’s campus mate in University Malaya is the former Felcra Berhad chairman, who has been in Umno for more than 25 years, said his defection would allow him to better serve his constituency, since Pakatan Rakyat is the Perak state government.

He said his decision was based on the people’s growing support for Pakatan, and the current situation within Umno and with its leaders. He is confident in PKR’s commitment to protecting the rights and interests of all races. Saying by doing this is in the interest of the people, especially his supporters and voters.

It was reported that his decision was not entirely a surprise as there has been speculation since last month that he would jump ship if he lost the Umno division elections.

The former Parit MP lost 19 votes in his bid to unseat the Umno Parit division chief Datuk Mohamed Zaim Abu Hasan, who is also Belanja state assemblyman within the Parit parliamentary constituency. He had earlier lost the Felcra chairmanship when he was moved to the Bota state seat in the 2008 general elections.

Nasarudin was an administrative and diplomatic officer in Wisma Putra, and also served at the Information Ministry. He joined Umno in the 1970s and had held the post of branch head since 1985.

Pakatan Rakyat

PAS flexes its muscles might cause the collapse of Pakatan Rakyat

Pakatan Rakyat is facing a great internal political crisis. It might cause the coalition to collapse and the collapse of coalition might change the political scenario which benefit to BN. This is the end result of marriage of convenience.

DAP chairman Karpal Singh said, it is not realistic for PAS Dewan Ulama to suggest that party president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang become the prime minister if Pakatan Rakyat forms the Federal Government.

Karpal Singh said that at the moment, PKR had 31 MPs, DAP had 28 and PAS "was the most junior" with 23 MPs.

"It is not pragmatic. Traditionally, in any coalition, the prime minister should come from the party with the highest number of MPs, which is PKR in this case," he said Friday.

Dewan Ulama head Datuk Mohamed Daud said on Thursday that Hadi was more qualified to become the prime minister if Pakatan succeeded in forming the new Federal Government by Sept 16. "It is wrong for PAS to unnecessarily flex its muscles.

The individual parties have to abide by the principle that the party with the majority can lay stake to the premiership," he said, adding that similarly, the post of Opposition Leader was now held by PKR.

Karpal Singh said the normal convention during a general election was that the party with the highest number of MPs would seek an audience with the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to form the government.

"Departing from convention is not a step in the right direction, and is counter productive."

"Hadi should come forward with a statement and openly support PKR adviser Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, if elected, to become prime minister if Pakatan gains the support of the people to enable it to form the government at any time in the future," he said.

Karpal Singh also said it was wrong for Mohamed to make the suggestion at this stage, as the Pakatan component parties should be concentrating on ensuring Anwar wins the Permatang Pauh by-election with a thumping majority.

Universiti Teknologi Mara For Malay Only

Although Universiti Teknologi Mara is a Malaysian public university, but the main objective is to provide maximum opportunities for Bumiputeras only to pursue professionally-recognized programmes of study in science, industry, technology, business, arts and humanities.

It began in 1956 as “Dewan Latihan”, by Rural and Industrial Development Authority Training Center in Petaling Jaya. The school name changed to MARA College in 1965 and since then became the most important unit of the MARA Training Division.

MARA stands for Council of Trust for the Indigenous People and Universiti Teknologi Mara is belong to MARA, it can’t mean different things to different people, it is for Malay Only!

The government of BN-UMNO formed MARA, neither non-Bumiputeras nor Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim has power to make a proposal, or rather a say in this matter, the point here is clear that it is a University monopolized by Bumiputeras.

Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim has no power to make a proposal that the student quota for Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) be opened to the non-Bumiputeras too.

He said those who had the rights to decide on the enrolment policy were those who had links to the educational institution.

“It is not within his jurisdiction of power. Matters pertaining to the intake (of students) lie with the educational institution concerned.”

Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim is suggesting that 10 per cent of the current student quota at UiTM be opened to non-Bumiputeras and foreign students.

He said the suggestion could raise the quality of education and spirit of competition among students at the institution. The suggestion to open up the university was to improve the quality of education and competency amongst its students as the university is currently only open to Bumiputeras.

He proposed to sit in a special meeting with some state executive councillors and the university's student representatives to come up with ideas to further advance the achievements of higher learning.

The suggestion, however, were met with opposition from former UiTM students who described it as illogical and did not deserve any consideration.

About 5,000 UiTM students assembled in front of the state government administration building, Bangunan Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah (SAAS) to protest against the suggestion.