All Eyes on KL Today

Yes, all Malaysian eyes are on its national capital Kuala Lumpur (KL) today, for three good reasons.

First, by 11.30am, after Question Time which starts at 10am, the Speaker of the Dewan Rakyat (Lower House) of the Malaysian Parliament (pic), Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Haji Mulia would have made known his decision whether to allow an emergency motion of no-confidence against the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to be tabled by Opposition leader Datuk Seri Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.

Wan Azizah, who is President of the Parti KeAdilan Rakyat (PKR), a partner of the opposition coalition of Pakatan Rakyat (People's Alliance), gave the notice for the emergency motion to the Speaker (who is a Sabahan, hooray!) last Friday. Under the Standing Orders of Parliament, the notice for an emergency motion must be submitted to the Speaker's office 24 working hours before the day it is to be tabled.

The Speaker will then decide, on the day concerned, either in Chambers or inside the House itself; normally after the question-and-answer session when other business of the day begins. At the time of my writing (almost noon), I am still waiting for my SMS News Alert from The Star, Malaysia's leading English tabloid daily.

I don't mean to be negative-minded or pessimistic, but experience tells me that it would probably be disallowed. Which brings us to Reason No. 2 - Police yesterday (despite being a Sunday when government offices in Malaysia are closed) obtained a Court Order banning the public from gathering within a 5km radius of Parliament House today, Monday. It was apparently prompted by rumours that former Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and his supporters might gather outside Parliament grounds to protest should the Speaker decide against allowing the motion to be debated. Anwar, husband of Wan Azizah, has been the de facto leader of the loose opposition alliance following his release from prison a couple of years ago. He led the opposition to a good outing in the March 8 election, denying the BN a two-thirds majority in Parliament and taking control of 5 state governments, something unprecedented in Malaysia's half-a-century history.

Copies of the Court Order was pasted at KL Sentral, the capital's land transportation hub, yesterday among other places to alert the public. In addition, all roads leading to Parliament were blocked since 7 this morning; apparently to prevent opposition sympathizers from gathering as rumoured. The road blocks, as expected, caused massive traffic jams in KL this morning as thousands of office and factory workers head to work. This prompted the minister-in-charge of the police, Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar to issue a public apology late this morning, saying that the road blocks were for the public's own security.

As if this was not enough, Parliament officials announced over the weekend (despite it not being working days) that Members of Parliament (MPs) would from Monday be no longer allowed to bring guests to the House. I do not know about now, but when I was still serving Sabah MPs between the 1980s-90s, an MP was entitled to bring a maximum of 10 guests each. In view of the tremendous increase in number of MPs since then, they must have been lowered the figure. But let's say an MP nowadays can bring 5 at a time - there are 82 Opposition MPs, so x5 gives you 410 (unwelcomed) guests, big enough a numer to cause a scene or stir or even disturbance in Parliament should the Speaker rules against allowing the motion.

The 3rd and final reason: Anwar, the 'Prime Minister-in-waiting', is scheduled to show up at a police station for his statement to be taken in conjunction with a police report lodged by his former aide that he was sodomised 8 times by the former deputy premier and finance minister, who was once regarded by former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher as "one of the best finance ministers in the region." Lady Thatcher also said that "if finance ministers are transferable, I wouldn't mind having him transferred to Britain."

Anwar spent some years in jail from late1990s to mid-2000s also on a sodomy charge. He was released after Malaysia's highest court overturned the High Court's decision which found him guilty of sodomy. He was however barred from active politics including standing for election as his other conviction, of corruption by influencing the police in their investigations, stood. That ban expired recently and Anwar is expected to contest in a by-election to be caused by the 'resignation' of one of his PKR MPs to enable him to become an MP and, perhaps, eventually, the Prime Minister.

My Say: First, they confined reporters and photographers to a corner in Parliament House, restricting their movements and freedom to discharge their duties. That restriction was lifted after protests including from some of the MPs themselves, both from the opposition and government backbenchers. Now, they stop MPs from brining guests (which is a normal practice in Parliament throughout the world). I wonder what's next? Stopping reporters from covering Parliament sittings altogether or asking MPs to take turns to attend Parliament?

The Countdown Begins (Updated)

Time flies. Without realizing, in a couple of days my blog - Sikmading's Sabah, Malaysian Borneo - will celebrate its 1st birthday.

Last month, I set myself the target of 100 posts with a minimum of 5,000 visits (based on Sitemeter) before July 15. Thank God, that target was achieved well ahead of time. This is my 118th post and at last count there was more than 5,600 visitors. As I had then said, the next target would be another 100 posts in 3 months and not 1 year! With your support and God's guidance, I hope to make it.

I would like to take this opportunity to once again thank all of you for your support. Without readers or visitors, a blog would be meaningless or useless no matter how well it is written.

Special appreciation to local blogger Joseph Bingkasan whose sms to me one day in late June or early July last year prompted me to jump unto the blogging bandwagon. His sms was to announce the birth of his blog, Aki Momogun (http://akimomogun.blogspot.com). But after visiting his blog, I told myself: If he can do it, why can't I? After all, we both have journalistic background and if journalists can't write, then who can?

Thanks also to another fellow-journalist Ruben Sario (Postcards from Borneo) for introducing me to Giuk.Net (From Sabah to the World) and blogger Ben Godomon a.k.a. Mr Pinolobo (Chronicles, among others) for helping to expedite my acceptance into the local network group. And of course, thank you to all of you at Giuk.Net including fellow Sabah bloggers for your visits, comments, advice. tips and support. Not forgetting my new found friends at Blog Rush and Blog Catalog. Also not forgetting Ahiruddin Attan a.k.a Rocky's Bru, one of Malaysia's top bloggers for mentioning my blog soon after I started. (I actually missed it myself but a friend told me so.)

My appreciaiton to Sabahan journalist based in KL (formerly Singapore), Jaxon S (Jaxon's Review and Borneo Blog) for his regular visits and generous advice and tips. The same goes to another Sabahan journalist based in Bangkok (formerly KL), Philip Golingai (Thai Takes) for his generous support.

Apart from Jaxon and Philip, J Bingkasan is another local journalist who has served not only outside Sabah but also outside Malaysia for that matter. I am proud of you guys, especially JB aka Aki who was the first Sabahan journalist to be based in London, working for the News Straits Times. It must have been a dream come true for him. I know because as a young trainee reporter me too had that kind of dream.

When I first got involved in journalism in the early 1970s, there wasn't many journalism courses or schools in this part of the world and most working journalists were school leavers. If you had a Diploma in Journalism then, you were already a 'qualified journalist' or somebody in the local press scene; what more if you had a journalism degree which was almost not available in Malaysia then. Thus, to be sent overseas for journalism training was quite a big deal those days. My 'idol' then, just like most young local journalists, were the three Sabahan reporters who had the benefit of being trained in Germany. Although it was just a 3-month International Diploma in Journalism course conducted in Berlin, the trio were definitely role models looked up to by young or up-and-coming local journalists including myself. Unfortunately, two of them had passed away. They were the late Tuanku Sharif Hamid (better known as TS Hamid) and the late Eddie Sequerah Ng. The other veteran is Wahid Norbinsha who is now a businessman. All three were at one time or another association with the old Sabah Times or Kinabalu Times which later merged to become Kinabalu Sabah Times.

The most 'qualified' local journalist then must have been Mr John Padasian (later Johan), the former Deputy Director of Information during the Usno era in the early 1970s. We were told he was the first Sabahan to hold a degree in journalism which he obtained from Australia. When the then Director of Information, the late Datuk Thomas Willie retired during the Berjaya era in late 1970s, John took over. Another Sabahan journalist of the good old days worth mentioning is Mr Melvin Okala. Although I am not sure if he had paper qualifications in journalism, he was certainly the first Sabahan (and first Murut) to be the correspondent and later Bureau Chief of Malaysia's National News Agency, Bernama, in Kota Kinabalu in the 1970s. Melvin, who later became Chief Editor of the old Sabah Times, has since retired, of course.

I am sorry to have detracted from the original purpose of this post but I suppose each and everyone of us do take a trip down memory lane once in a while. We are, after all, human. Furthermore, I would be selfish not to share with my juniors or the younger journalists of today what it was like in the early days of my time as a reporter.

Those days, a new or trainee reporter was also called a cub reporter. But I started as a what they called 'stringer', meaning part-time reporter usually corresponding from a certain town or district. I 'stringed' for my hometown of Tamparuli and district of Tuaran for the local English newspapers. I literally appointed myself to be one while waiting for my Form 5 results, being self taught and learning the ropes along the way. Those days, the Form 5 exam was still for the Cambridge School Certificate of Education (masih 'orang putih' punya bah) while for Form 6 it would be Senior Cambridge.

So, once again, thank you very much and may God bless you all.

See How Effective A Motion of No-Confidence Is?

At 3.45 this afternoon, Malaysian parliamentary opposition leader Azizah (Anwar's wife) filed a notice for an emergency motion of no-confidence agaianst the Prime Minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi at the Speaker's office (she is seen walking towards the Speaker's office in top picture, holding the notice in her hand and escorted by opposition leaders). The Speaker, Pandikar Amin will make known his decision whether to allow the motion when Parliament resumes sitting on Monday.

Three hours later, at a press conference after chairing the UMNO (major partner of BN, Malaysia's ruling coalition) supreme council meeting, Abdullah announced that he will hand over the premiership to his deputy Najib Razak in June 2010 (lower picture). By then, Abdullah would have served about half of his 5-year mandate given by the electorate on March 8.

Abdullah also announced that he would also hand over the UMNO presidency to Najib at the same time. He would in the meantime defend his presidency in the party polls in December, adding that he wants Naib to continue to be his deputy.

See how effective a motion of no-confidence is? And the motion is not even tabled yet! It's just a notice of intention and don't know yet whether it would be allowed by the Speaker on Monday. Even if it's allowed, it won't legally affect Abdullah as there will only be a debate and no voting. Because this (emergency motion) is the 'short cut' method. Only the 'long cut' method, if allowed, would result in voting in Parliament but this requires a 14-day notice.

Coming to think of it, SAPP should have just gone ahead and use this 'short cut' method the last three weeks that Parliament has been in session just to show Sabahans that the party was serious and not 'main-main' (play play). After all, under this method the question of the motion being defeated does not arise as there is no voting involved. And after all, the party had aleady disturbed the hornest' nest after its president Yong Teck Lee dropped a bombshell mid-June and got nothing to lose. As it this now, SAPP has somehow lost the trust of some, if not most, Sabahans. If 3 weeks ago, SAPP's credibility and popularity with Sabahans was at its highest now it's at its lowest ebb. Yesterday, a local Chinese newspaper said overnight (following Chua's statement 2 days ago) the SAPP has changed from a 'hero' in the eyes of Sabahans to a mild bear.

Now the opposition Pakatan Rakyat in general and PKR in particular has stolen the limelight from SAPP, although I suspect that PKR is doing it just to divert attention away from the latest sodomy accusation against its de facto leader Anwar.

It remains interesting to see whether the two SAPP MPs would support the motion on Monday if the debate is allowed. One of the duo, Dr Chua Soon Bui, seems to be singing a slightly different tune lately. Yesterday, Yong claimed that Chua and SAPP deputy president Raymond Tan were being used by BN to split the party and isolate him.

No wonder popular Malaysian blogger Ahiruddin Attan (Rocky's Bru) said he was getting fed-up and would stop blogging politics for 48 hours.

Now I'm Even More Fed-Up!

OK, that's it! This time I'm really fed-up. For the next few days I'll really try not to blog about politics, unless it's some earth-shattering news.

First, you have the Private Investigator making a Statutory Declaration (SD) saying that the Deputy Prime Minister had a sexual relationship with the murdered Mongolian model. The very next day, he made another SD to retract what he said earlier; then went missing.

Next, you have the bombshell dropped by Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) about 3 weeks ago saying that its MPs would move a motion of no-confidence against the Prime Minister in Parliament the following week for "failure to solve Sabah's problems and the fuel price hike." Sabahans became excited. At last there was a local BN component party which dared to stand up for them, or so it seemed. It reminded them of the then newly-formed Berjaya party (1975) and the infant PBS (1985). Suddenly there was fresh air and new hope. Overnight, despite being a BN party, SAPP became the new Berjaya or PBS and its president Yong Teck Lee was the new hero in the eyes of Sabahans, just like Harris in 1975 Pairin in 1985.

Yong's bombshell statement was endorsed by SAPP's supreme council 3 days after his first press conference. In the top picture, Yong (left) is seen with his deputy Raymond Tan (right) with Tawau MP Dr Chua Soon Bui just before the 2nd press conference to announce the endorsement despite BN's warning. Yong also said then that SAPP was prepared for whatever consequences, including being kicked out of BN. (For the record, Tan did not stay for the press conference.)

When Parliament sat the following Monday, nothing happened. SAPP's two MPs were not even there. The reason, according to SAPP, was that the duo had received death threats and were recalled to party headquarters for consultations.

One of the MPs, Eric Majimbun, started attending Parliament last week but still nothing happened. He kept a low profile, giving no press interviews.

The other MP, Dr Chua Soon Bui, finally showed up today as the Dewan Rakyat (Lower House) enters its 3rd week of sitting. She said she had been on sick leave.

She paid 'courtesy calls' on the Speaker, Pandikar Amin (a Sabahan) and the Minister-in-charge of Parliament, Nazri Aziz. (See lower picture, above.)

The Doctor-of-Philosophy degree holder also spoke to the press who surrounded her as soon as they realised her presence. That was when she dropped another bombshell: "Motion of no-confidence against PM no longer on agenda of SAPP and that the party never intended to leave the BN!".

Among the reasons she gave was that SAPP dos not want to be blamed in the event of unexpected consequences affecting the public such as the declaration of a state of emergency in the country which also means emergency rule for an indefinite period. She added the PM also seemed to be doing something about Sabah's problem including the illegal immigrants issue. Malaysians already 'tasted' emergency rule after the 1969 racial riots.

The possibility of emergency rule (in which case the Constitution would be suspended and Parliament ceases to function) was first touched upon by SAPP president Yong Teck Lee when he spoke to the Press at Gaya Street in Kota Kinabalu yesterday. He said talks or even hints of such a possibility worried SAPP. Dr Chua was with him.

To be fair, I leave it to my readers or visitors to judge for themselves. But just like many Malaysians including popular blogger Ahiruddin Attan (Rocky's Bru), I am confused or, to borrow Sunday Star's headline, Simply Fed-Up.

In two days, Malaysians have seen as many unbelievable 'about-turns'. I wonder what's up next?

Good night. I'm mentally tired because of all the confusion caused. Better get some sleep.

Even Politicians Themselves Fed-Up!

Only hours ago, I said I would take a short break from blogging politics unless there is something positive.

The above are reproduced from today's Star and are self-explanatory. Click on each image for a larger view.

Yes, it seems now even the politicians themselves are getting fed-up!

Malaysians Simply Fed-Up!

Yes, I cannot agree more with the banner headline (and in red at that!) on the frontpage of yesterday's Sunday Star.

Malaysians are simply 'fed-up' with and have had enough of the political bickering that have been fed to them the past two weeks! So much so that among those getting fed-up is none other than one of the nation's best known bloggers, Ahirudin Attan a.k.a Rock's Bru!

And just like 'Rocky', me too am getting fed-up and taking a short break from blogging politics unless, as 'Rocky' said, it's something positive or important development.

All of the above articles, taken from yesterday's Sunday Star, speak for itself. I need not explain further why Malaysians are getting fed-up with these latest political developments. Click on each image for a larger view.

I do enjoy, however, reading the analysis written by the nation's top journalists like Datuk Wong Chun Wai and Jocelyn Tan. I find their writings quite objective, despite The Star's link with MCA, one of the ruling BN's coalition partners. Interested to read their full articles and missed yesterday's Star? Go to http://www.thestar.com.my.