DOCSLIB.ORG

Scandal-Plagued Malaysian Party Poised to Win PM Race

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Scandal-Plagued Malaysian Party Poised to Win PM Race 18 Friday International Friday, August 20, 2021 Scandal-plagued Malaysian party poised to win PM race King will pick next PM based on parliament support KUALA LUMPUR: A scandal-plagued be looking favorably to his appointment, and it Malaysian party looked set yesterday to regain will be an unelected appointment,” said Bridget the country’s leadership that it lost at landmark Welsh, a Malaysia expert from the University of elections three years ago, after the last prime Nottingham. “So you will see polarization con- minister resigned this week. Muhyiddin Yassin tinue.” Lawmakers supporting Ismail Sabri met quit Monday after a turbulent 17 months in office the king at the national palace to confirm their when allies withdrew support, and amid mount- support for him. An official announcement is ex- ing anger at his government’s handling of a pected Friday after a meeting of the country’s worsening coronavirus outbreak. With an elec- royals. UMNO was booted out of power after tion ruled out due to the pandemic, the king will becoming embroiled in myriad graft cases, no- pick the country’s next leader based on who tably the 1MDB scandal. commands majority support in parliament. Ismail Billions of dollars were looted from sover- Sabri Yaakob, who was deputy premier in eign wealth fund 1MDB in a fraud involving ex- Muhyiddin’s coalition, has received the backing leader Najib Razak, and spent on everything of most lawmakers, one of his supporters, MP from a super-yacht to pricey artwork. Najib Ahmad Maslan, said on Twitter. has been convicted and sentenced to 12 years The 61-year-old is a long-time member of in jail, although he remains free pending an ap- United Malays National Organization (UMNO), peal. Analysts have warned that UMNO re- and if his victory is confirmed it means the party gaining the premiership could have will reclaim the premiership. UMNO was the implications for Najib’s case, and for several lynchpin of a coalition that ruled Malaysia for six other MPs facing corruption charge. But KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin waves as he arrives at the National Palace in Kuala decades until losing power in 2018 amid a storm Muhyiddin, whose coalition is backing Ismail Lumpur, as he was expected to quit after just 17 months in office. —AFP of corruption scandals. The party had already Sabri, warned their support was conditional on regained a foothold in power as part of the coali- him picking cabinet ministers who “have in- tion that collapsed this week, but Muhyiddin tegrity... and are not facing criminal charges”. Anwar Ibrahim, looks set to lose out. Following ernment collapsed last year amid infighting, himself is from a different group. Meanwhile, the other main contender for the 2018 polls, a reformist alliance headed by paving the way for Muhyiddin to take power “People who voted for change in 2018 will not the premiership, long-time opposition leader Mahathir Mohamad took power. But that gov- without a vote. —AFP Singapore YouTuber Sole surviving Khmer charged with sex offences Rouge leader denies after online claims role in genocide PHNOM PENH: The last surviving senior Khmer Rouge leader SINGAPORE: A Singapore YouTube star was charged yester- denied responsibility for genocide committed more than 40 day with offering teenage boys cash for sexual services, after years in Cambodia during his closing remarks yesterday to an facing misconduct allegations on social media. Dee Kosh gained international tribunal. Under the ultra-Maoist Khmer Rouge popularity for his shows, which are often just him chatting to the regime led by “Brother Number 1” Pol Pot, some two million camera or friends, and was also well known as a DJ at a local Cambodians died from overwork, starvation and mass execu- radio station. But last year social media users accused the 32- tions from 1975-1979. Khieu Samphan-one the secretive year-old of asking them for sexual favors and to send nude pic- regime’s few public faces-was sentenced in 2018 by a UN- tures in private messages, with some posting screenshots. The backed court to life in prison for genocide committed against YouTuber, real name Darryl Ian Koshy, faced seven charges ethnic-minority Vietnamese. But his lawyers have argued since when he appeared in court yesterday, local media reported. Monday in daylong appeal hearings that the tribunal had taken He allegedly offered boys aged 15 to 17 money in exchange a “selective approach” to witness testimony to convict him. for sexual favors, they said. He is also accused of making obscene “I categorically refuse the accusation that I had the intention films, and possessing obscene videos. Koshy, who has 367,000 to commit the crimes,” the 90-year-old said yesterday at the subscribers on YouTube, faces a lengthy jail term and hefty fines end of the hearings. “I have never committed them.” The three- PHNOM PENH: This photo shows ex-Khmer Rouge head of state Khieu if convicted. Police said they launched a probe after receiving year trial, which ended in 2017, included the testimony of more Samphan in the courtroom during his appeal against life imprisonment reports of a man allegedly offering money in exchange for sexual than 100 witnesses who described in chilling detail the abuses for his role in the genocide committed by the regime, at the ECCC. —AFP services. Police said they “take a tough stance against sexual and mass murders committed against Cham Muslims and ethnic crimes, particularly those that target vulnerable victims such as Vietnamese. Khieu Samphan claimed he was not part of the the young”. killing machine that exterminated nearly a quarter of Cambodia’s evacuation of Phnom Penh in April 1975, when Khmer Rouge He was placed on leave from the radio station after the inves- population rejecting in forceful closing statements the label of troops drove the population of the capital into rural labor camps. tigation began. In a statement posted on Instagram last year, “murderer”. Whatever the verdict to his appeal on genocide charges Koshy denied some of the allegations but admitted “some truth” But the court sentenced him to life in prison-alongside may be, Khieu Samphan said yesterday his fate was already in the accusations. He admitted that his text conversations with “Brother Number 2” Nuon Chea who died in 2019 — for geno- sealed. “No matter what you decide, I will die in prison,” he a 15-year-old were “problematic” and “inappropriate” but said cide and a litany of other crimes, including forced marriages and said. “I’m judged symbolically, rather than by my actual deeds there was no intent to groom the minor. —AFP rapes. The pair were previously handed life sentences by the as an individual.” The verdict for the appeal is expected to court in 2014 for crimes against humanity over the violent forced come in 2022. —AFP.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Najib's Fork-Tongue Shows Again: Umno Talks of Rejuvenation Yet Oldies Get Plum Jobs at Expense of New Blood
    NAJIB'S FORK-TONGUE SHOWS AGAIN: UMNO TALKS OF REJUVENATION YET OLDIES GET PLUM JOBS AT EXPENSE OF NEW BLOOD 11 February 2016 - Malaysia Chronicle The recent appointments of Tan Sri Annuar Musa, 59, as Umno information chief, and Datuk Seri Ahmad Bashah Md Hanipah, 65, as Kedah menteri besar, have raised doubts whether one of the oldest parties in the country is truly committed to rejuvenating itself. The two stalwarts are taking over the duties of younger colleagues, Datuk Ahmad Maslan, 49, and Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir, 51, respectively. Umno’s decision to replace both Ahmad and Mukhriz with older leaders indicates that internal politics trumps the changes it must make to stay relevant among the younger generation. In a party where the Youth chief himself is 40 and sporting a greying beard, Umno president Datuk Seri Najib Razak has time and again stressed the need to rejuvenate itself and attract the young. “Umno and Najib specifically have been saying about it (rejuvenation) for quite some time but they lack the political will to do so,” said Professor Dr Arnold Puyok, a political science lecturer from Universiti Malaysia Sarawak. “I don’t think Najib has totally abandoned the idea of ‘peremajaan Umno’ (rejuvenation). He is just being cautious as doing so will put him in a collision course with the old guards.” In fact, as far back as 2014, Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin said older Umno leaders were unhappy with Najib’s call for rejuvenation as they believed it would pit them against their younger counterparts. He said the “noble proposal” that would help Umno win elections could be a “ticking time- bomb” instead.
    [Show full text]
  • THE UNREALIZED MAHATHIR-ANWAR TRANSITIONS Social Divides and Political Consequences
    THE UNREALIZED MAHATHIR-ANWAR TRANSITIONS Social Divides and Political Consequences Khoo Boo Teik TRENDS IN SOUTHEAST ASIA ISSN 0219-3213 TRS15/21s ISSUE ISBN 978-981-5011-00-5 30 Heng Mui Keng Terrace 15 Singapore 119614 http://bookshop.iseas.edu.sg 9 7 8 9 8 1 5 0 1 1 0 0 5 2021 21-J07781 00 Trends_2021-15 cover.indd 1 8/7/21 12:26 PM TRENDS IN SOUTHEAST ASIA 21-J07781 01 Trends_2021-15.indd 1 9/7/21 8:37 AM The ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute (formerly Institute of Southeast Asian Studies) is an autonomous organization established in 1968. It is a regional centre dedicated to the study of socio-political, security, and economic trends and developments in Southeast Asia and its wider geostrategic and economic environment. The Institute’s research programmes are grouped under Regional Economic Studies (RES), Regional Strategic and Political Studies (RSPS), and Regional Social and Cultural Studies (RSCS). The Institute is also home to the ASEAN Studies Centre (ASC), the Singapore APEC Study Centre and the Temasek History Research Centre (THRC). ISEAS Publishing, an established academic press, has issued more than 2,000 books and journals. It is the largest scholarly publisher of research about Southeast Asia from within the region. ISEAS Publishing works with many other academic and trade publishers and distributors to disseminate important research and analyses from and about Southeast Asia to the rest of the world. 21-J07781 01 Trends_2021-15.indd 2 9/7/21 8:37 AM THE UNREALIZED MAHATHIR-ANWAR TRANSITIONS Social Divides and Political Consequences Khoo Boo Teik ISSUE 15 2021 21-J07781 01 Trends_2021-15.indd 3 9/7/21 8:37 AM Published by: ISEAS Publishing 30 Heng Mui Keng Terrace Singapore 119614 [email protected] http://bookshop.iseas.edu.sg © 2021 ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute, Singapore All rights reserved.
    [Show full text]
  • How the Pandemic Is Keeping Malaysia's Politics Messy
    How the Pandemic Is Keeping Malaysia’s Politics Messy Malaysia’s first transfer of power in six decades was hailed as a milestone for transparency, free speech and racial tolerance in the multiethnic Southeast Asian country. But the new coalition collapsed amid an all-too-familiar mix of political intrigue and horse trading. Elements of the old regime were brought into a new government that also proved short-lived. The turmoil stems in part from an entrenched system of affirmative-action policies that critics say fosters cronyism and identity-based politics, while a state of emergency declared due to the coronavirus pandemic has hampered plans for fresh elections. 1. How did this start? Two veteran politicians, Mahathir Mohamad and Anwar Ibrahim, won a surprising election victory in 2018 that ousted then-Prime Minister Najib Razak, who was enmeshed in a massive money-laundering scandal linked to the state investment firm 1MDB. Mahathir, 96, became prime minister again (he had held the post from 1981 to 2003), with the understanding that he would hand over to Anwar at some point. Delays in setting a date and policy disputes led to tensions that boiled over in 2020. Mahathir stepped down and sought to strengthen his hand by forming a unity government outside party politics. But the king pre-empted his efforts by naming Mahathir’s erstwhile right-hand man, Muhyiddin Yassin, as prime minister, the eighth since Malaysia’s independence from the U.K. in 1957. Mahathir formed a new party to take on the government but failed to get it registered.
    [Show full text]
  • Media Statement Malaysia Is Hosting the First Virtual Ief-Igu Ministerial Gas Forum
    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE UNIT PERANCANG EKONOMI JABATAN PERDANA MENTERI MEDIA STATEMENT MALAYSIA IS HOSTING THE FIRST VIRTUAL IEF-IGU MINISTERIAL GAS FORUM Kuala Lumpur, 1 Dec 2020 - Prime Minister of Malaysia, YAB Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin will inaugurate the 7th IEF-IGU Ministerial Gas Forum Roundtable this coming 3rd of December, that will be hosted by the Government of Malaysia represented through the Economic Planning Unit, Prime Minister’s Department. The Ministerial Gas Forum, under the theme “Towards Recovery and Shared Prosperity: Natural Gas Opportunities for a Sustainable World”, is a biennial event jointly organised by International Energy Forum (IEF) and International Gas Union (IGU) and this 7th edition will be the first time the forum is held virtually. YB Dato’ Sri Mustapa Bin Mohamed, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Economy) will be hosting and jointly-moderating the ministerial forum together with Professor Joe Kang, the President of International Gas Union (IGU) and Mr Joseph McMonigle, the Secretary-General of International Energy Forum (IEF). The Ministerial Forum will be focusing on the inclusive dialogue highlighting the role of natural gas to strengthening energy security and facilitating the orderly energy transition in an increasingly carbon-constrained world. The two separate plenary sessions have been timed in such a way to encourage greater participation from 38 countries including Asia, North America, South America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. “Malaysia is honoured to be given the opportunity to be the host country of this biennial forum by the International Energy Forum (IEF) and the International Gas Union (IGU) . The forum will be addressing gas industry’s pressing issues amidst the current global 1 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE pandemic situation and to discuss mutually-beneficial solutions,” said Dato’ Sri Mustapa.
    [Show full text]
  • The 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) Scandal: Exploring Malaysia's 2018 General Elections and the Case for Sovereign Wealth Funds
    Seattle Pacific University Digital Commons @ SPU Honors Projects University Scholars Spring 6-7-2021 The 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) Scandal: Exploring Malaysia's 2018 General Elections and the Case for Sovereign Wealth Funds Chea-Mun Tan Seattle Pacific University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.spu.edu/honorsprojects Part of the Economics Commons, and the Political Science Commons Recommended Citation Tan, Chea-Mun, "The 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) Scandal: Exploring Malaysia's 2018 General Elections and the Case for Sovereign Wealth Funds" (2021). Honors Projects. 131. https://digitalcommons.spu.edu/honorsprojects/131 This Honors Project is brought to you for free and open access by the University Scholars at Digital Commons @ SPU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Projects by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ SPU. The 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) Scandal: Exploring Malaysia’s 2018 General Elections and the Case for Sovereign Wealth Funds by Chea-Mun Tan First Reader, Dr. Doug Downing Second Reader, Dr. Hau Nguyen A project submitted in partial fulfillMent of the requireMents of the University Scholars Honors Project Seattle Pacific University 2021 Tan 2 Abstract In 2015, the former PriMe Minister of Malaysia, Najib Razak, was accused of corruption, eMbezzleMent, and fraud of over $700 million USD. Low Taek Jho, the former financier of Malaysia, was also accused and dubbed the ‘mastermind’ of the 1MDB scandal. As one of the world’s largest financial scandals, this paper seeks to explore the political and economic iMplications of 1MDB through historical context and a critical assessMent of governance. Specifically, it will exaMine the economic and political agendas of former PriMe Ministers Najib Razak and Mahathir MohaMad.
    [Show full text]
  • Railway Land Swap : New Light on an Old Issue
    This document is downloaded from DR‑NTU (https://dr.ntu.edu.sg) Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Railway land swap : new light on an old issue Yang Razali Kassim 2010 Yang Razali Kassim. (2010). Railway land swap : new light on an old issue. (RSIS Commentaries, No. 076). RSIS Commentaries. Singapore: Nanyang Technological University. https://hdl.handle.net/10356/92558 Downloaded on 27 Sep 2021 14:30:16 SGT ATTENTION: The Singapore Copyright Act applies to the use of this document. Nanyang Technological University Library 76/2010 RSIS COMMENTARIES RSIS Commentaries are intended to provide timely and, where appropriate, policy relevant background and analysis of contemporary developments. The views of the authors are their own and do not represent the official position of the S.Rajaratnam School of International Studies, NTU. These commentaries may be reproduced electronically or in print with prior permission from RSIS. Due recognition must be given to the author or authors and RSIS. Please email: [email protected] or call 6790 6982 to speak to the Editor RSIS Commentaries, Yang Razali Kassim. __________________________________________________________________________________________________ Railway Land Swap: New Light on an Old Issue Yang Razali Kassim 9 July 2010 The Malaysian Deputy Foreign Minister’s recent statement in Parliament that the Malayan Railway land in Singapore did not belong to Malaysia but was leased sheds new light on an old issue. Was this the reason for the breakthrough in bilateral ties? MALAYSIAN DEPUTY Foreign Minister Richard Riot Jaem’s statement in Parliament on 28 June -- on the landmark deal for a swap of Malayan Railway land in Singapore -- has shed new light on an old issue.
    [Show full text]
  • Selected Outcomes for TVET in the 11Th Malaysia Plan
    Of National Leaders, Businesses & Innovations Special ASEAN Skills Competition 2016 Enhancing Innovation and Productivity with High-Value Talent ad in supplement.pdf 1 7/14/16 4:18 PM Department of Skills Development What’s Inside 2 Knowledge-Based Skilled Workforce Development 4 Specialised Workforce 6 Built for the Skill 10 ASEAN Skills Competition 2016 15 Malaysia Boleh! SIN CHEW DAILY 03-8886 2426 ad in supplement.pdf 1 7/14/16 4:18 PM SIN CHEW DAILY 03-8886 2426 Knowledge-Based Skilled Workforce Development One of the most essential characteristics of a National Dual Training System and the National developed country is its skilled workforce. Germany Occupational Skills Standard (NOSS)-based training. and neighbouring Singapore, for instance, have 82% and 52% highly-skilled personnel in their Furthermore, we are focusing on significantly enhancing workforce respectively. In Malaysia, the percentage skilled workforce development with the shifting of of high-skilled local workers is targeted to reach Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) more than 35% by 2020 and over 40% by 2030 from towards industry-led programmes to produce skilled 28% currently. This translates into a continuous and talent that can meet industry needs. To this end, it is a significant focus on the development of human capital great honour that Malaysia has been selected to host the development and is in line with the country achieving ASEAN Skills Competition (ASC) 2016 for the third time a developed and advanced nation status by 2020. since the biennial event was initiated in Japan in 1993. Having a highly-skilled, efficient and effective labour ASC focuses on, among others, promoting the market increases the attractiveness of Malaysia as a development of quality vocational, technical and work preferred destination for foreign investment.
    [Show full text]
  • Guan Eng Labels Muhyiddin a 'Coward' for Attacking His Son the Malaysian Insider October 23, 2011 by Yow Hong Chieh KUALA LU
    Guan Eng labels Muhyiddin a ‘coward’ for attacking his son The Malaysian Insider October 23, 2011 By Yow Hong Chieh KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 23 — Lim Guan Eng has called Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin a “coward” for repeating claims by pro-Umno bloggers that his son had molested a schoolmate. The Penang chief minister said he was “appalled and disgusted” that Muhyiddin had attacked his son for political mileage and told the Umno number two to focus efforts on him instead. “If Muhyiddin hates me so much, he can do his worst to finish me off politically,” he said in a statement. “But Muhyiddin should not join the craven pack of cowards to pick on my 16-year old son and put my son again through this traumatic experience.” Lim (picture) said Muhyiddin had failed the moral and ethical test to be prime minister by repeating “lies” about a teenager who could not defend himself, even after the alleged victim had come forward to deny the claims. He added that the deputy prime minister risked losing the respect of the public if he continued to repeat the allegations. “Muhyiddin loses the respect of decent Malaysians if he behaves in the same arrogant manner as those ferocious Umno beasts who know only how to bully my 16-year old son and feast on a child’s innocence,” he said. Pro-Umno bloggers had claimed that Lim’s son had assaulted a 16-year-old schoolmate and tried to escape punishment by using his father’s name. Lim, who is also DAP secretary-general, denied the allegations, saying he was furious with the “barbaric lies” made about his teenage son by “pro-Umno ferocious beasts”.
    [Show full text]
  • Foreign and Security Policy in the New Malaysia
    Foreign and security policy in Elina Noor the New Malaysia November 2019 FOREIGN AND SECURITY POLICY IN THE NEW MALAYSIA The Lowy Institute is an independent policy think tank. Its mandate ranges across all the dimensions of international policy debate in Australia — economic, political and strategic — and it is not limited to a particular geographic region. Its two core tasks are to: • produce distinctive research and fresh policy options for Australia’s international policy and to contribute to the wider international debate • promote discussion of Australia’s role in the world by providing an accessible and high-quality forum for discussion of Australian international relations through debates, seminars, lectures, dialogues and conferences. Lowy Institute Analyses are short papers analysing recent international trends and events and their policy implications. The views expressed in this paper are entirely the author’s own and not those of the Lowy Institute or the institutions with which the author is affiliated. FOREIGN AND SECURITY POLICY IN THE NEW MALAYSIA EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Malaysia’s historic changE oF govErnment in May 2018 rEturnEd Former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad to ofFice supported by an eclectic coalition of parties and interests under the Pakatan Harapan (AlliancE of HopE) bannEr. This raisEd quEstions about how thE sElF-declared Malaysia Baharu (NEw Malaysia) would EngagE with thE rest of thE world. AftEr thE ElEction, it was gEnErally assumEd that Malaysia’s ForEign policy would largEly stay thE coursE, with some minor adjustments. This trajEctory was confirmEd with thE SEptembEr 2019 relEasE of thE Foreign Policy Framework of the New Malaysia: Change in Continuity, thE country’s First major Foreign policy restatement under the new government.
    [Show full text]
  • Workplace Clusters Record Highest Covid-19 Cases, Says Minister
    Workplace clusters record highest Covid-19 cases, says Minister KUALA LUMPUR, July 27 — Covid-19 clusters involving the workplace which stood at 735 clusters, have recorded the highest number of cases at 60,000 cases from June 1 to July 23, said National Recovery Plan (NRP) Coordinating Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz. The finance minister said of the total clusters, 373 or 50.7 per cent involved the manufacturing sub-category with 35,642 cases reported. “This is higher than the number of clusters in other categories throughout the same period,” he said in reply to questions raised regarding the NRP in Dewan Rakyat here yesterday. Tengku Zafrul said cluster categories were used to identify locations or localities so that targeted actions to control and prevent the spread of Covid-19 infection could be implemented effectively by the Health Ministry (MOH) in collaboration with the relevant authorities. Shah Alam MP Khalid Abd Samad raised questions regarding International Trade and Industry Ministry’s action that allowed factories to open without control, which he claimed had led to the rise in Covid-19 cases in the country. Its Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali responded to the allegations saying the decision to allow factories to operate was made collectively in the National Security Council (NSC) meeting, adding that the ministry’s role was only to coordinate so that authorised parties could operate in compliance with the standard operating procedures (SOPs) set. Mohamed Azmin also showed a placard of data from the National Crisis Preparedness and Response Centre (CPRC) and the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) that indicated only 8.8 per cent of new Covid-19 cases were recorded in the manufacturing sector out of 408,134 cases nationwide between June 1 and July 23.
    [Show full text]
  • Countries at the Crossroads 2012: Malaysia
    COUNTRIES AT THE CROSSROADS Countries at the Crossroads 2012: Malaysia Introduction Malaysia has over 28 million people, of whom approximately 63 percent are ethnic Malay, 25 percent Chinese, 7 percent Indian, and 4 percent Ibans and Kadazan-Dusun.1 Much of this diversity was created through the British formation of an extractive colonial economy, with the “indigenous” Malay community ordered into small holdings and rice cultivation, while the “non-Malays” were recruited from China and India into tin mining and plantation agriculture. Further, in preparing the territory for independence in 1957, the British fashioned a polity that was formally democratic, but would soon be encrusted by authoritarian controls. Throughout the 1960s, greater urbanization brought many Malays to the cities, where they encountered the comparative prosperity of the non-Malays. They perceived the multiethnic coalition that ruled the country, anchored by the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), but including the Malayan Chinese Association (MCA) and the Malayan Indian Congress (MIC), as doing little to enhance their living standards. At the same time, many non-Malays grew alienated by the discrimination they faced in accessing public sector resources. Thus, as voters in both communities swung to opposition parties in an election held in May 1969, the UMNO-led coalition, known as the Alliance, was gravely weakened. Shortly afterward, Malays and Chinese clashed in the capital, Kuala Lumpur, sparking ethnic rioting known as the May 13th incident. Two years of emergency rule followed during which parliament was closed. As the price for reopening parliament in 1971, UMNO imposed new curbs on civil liberties, thereby banning any questioning of the Malay “special rights” that are enshrined in constitution’s Article 153.
    [Show full text]
  • Malaysia Politics
    March 10, 2020 Malaysia Politics PN Coalition Government Cabinet unveiled Analysts PM Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin unveiled his Cabinet with no DPM post and replaced by Senior Ministers, and appointed a banker as Finance Minister. Suhaimi Ilias UMNO and PAS Presidents are not in the lineup. Cabinet formation (603) 2297 8682 reduces implementation risk to stimulus package. Immediate challenges [email protected] are navigating politics and managing economy amid risk of a no Dr Zamros Dzulkafli confidence motion at Parliament sitting on 18 May-23 June 2020 and (603) 2082 6818 economic downsides as crude oil price slump adds to the COVID-19 [email protected] outbreak. Ramesh Lankanathan No DPM but Senior Ministers instead; larger Cabinet (603) 2297 8685 reflecting coalition makeup; and a banker as [email protected] Finance Minister William Poh Chee Keong Against the long-standing tradition, there is no Deputy PM post in this (603) 2297 8683 Cabinet. The Constitution also makes no provision on DPM appointment. [email protected] ECONOMICS Instead, Senior Minister status are assigned to the Cabinet posts in charge of 1) International Trade & Industry, 2) Defence, 3) Works, and 4) Education portfolios. These Senior Minister posts are distributed between what we see as key representations in the Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition i.e. former PKR Deputy President turned independent Datuk Seri Azmin Ali (International Trade & Industry), UMNO Vice President Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob (Defence), Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) Chief Whip Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof (Works) and PM’s party Parti Pribumi Malaysia Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) Supreme Council member Dr Mohd Radzi Md Jidin (Education).
    [Show full text]