Selangor Dilemma

The open move to replace Selangor MB Khalid Ibrahim with Wan Azizah does not appear smooth at all. The Selangor Sultan has made open his thoughts and getting his approval may be a hurdle. The MB Khalid is not budging and insist that he will stay until the end of his term. PAS President Hadi Awang voiced his view of status quo although the PAS leadership seems to endorse the change together with DAP.

It is the latest expose of the PAS central committee Whatsapp screenshot of a very sensitive conversation now released on the Internet has stirred serious emotions. The contents of the conversation points to the Operations Director Dr Zuhdi suggesting for PAS to leave Pakatan Rakyat and join forces with Umno to retain control and to suggest that the year end delineation can strengthen Malay candidates to ensure that the minority voters cannot raise their issues effectively. Dr Zuhdi did not dispute the authenticity but rather defended that this was merely his analysis as requested by the central party members. He felt that he is being wrongly accused, according to his facebook posting.

MH17 Questions

Two days have passed after the MH17 tragedy. Rescue teams are working rather slowly in primitive Ukraine. The local helpers are frantically working under strenuous conditions. The stench is building. There are no facilities to preserve the bodies. The international investigators are facing roadblocks. There is no confirmed safe perimeter.

Malaysia is again placed into international spotlight for the wrong reasons. Even when MH370 has yet to find its conclusion, MH17 has tragically plunged this nation into mourning again. Many families are lost and torn apart. Our prayers are with them.

But why?

No End To BSM Bible Issue

Contrary to what Malaysians think that the Attorney General has concluded this case by designating no further actions and to instruct JAIS to return the bibles to BSM, the current turn of events by MAIS and the Selangor Sultan have changed the expected course of events.

News reports that indicate the Sultan’s intent that JAIS should proceed to engage with the state prosecutor to move this for a court decision appears to have caused a divide of opinions. Given this latest turn of events, it is unlikely that a genuine conclusion of this case will be seen anywhere in the near future.

There are also news reports that MAIS is suggesting that the bibles be disposed instead of being returned. To the Christian community, it may appear as an insult to order such an action although anyone can go to read the text on the Internet today. This action will further compound the situation, affect the emotions of the minority communities and challenge the AG instructions.

So, who has the final say in today’s government on legal matters, especially like this one? Is it the AG, the state prosecutors, the Sultan, JAIS, MAIS? One thing for certain, it is not MB Khalid or PM Najib. The so-called political twist to this episode has been confused intensely and is very difficult to extricate out in any easy way.

MH17 Horror!

Last night (Thursday, 17/7/14) around 11:30 pm when the nation was getting into slumber, there was a rude and horrifying awakening of the news that MH17 enroute to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam had crashed.

News flashes on TV from CNN, BBC, Bloomberg and all across the social media started broadcasting furiously. It was speculated that MH17 might have been shot down near the Ukraine town of Donetsk, about 50km the Russian border. Malaysians were awoken with a gut wrenching reality of a second Boeing 777 lost this year after an entire history of incident-free life.

There were 298 passengers and crew on board MH17 flying at 33,000ft, slightly above the 32,000ft restricted airspace when it was shot down allegedly by rebels fighting against the Ukraine government. It is believed that no one survived the attack on the civilian plane, now ranked the worst disasters of civilian planes shot down. The other two being 290 killed in 1988 when an Iran Air plane was shot out of the sky and in 1983 when 269 died when Soviet fighter jets downed a South Korean Boeing 747.