Operasi Lallang II ? Kamunting Camp renovated to accommodate more detainees...!

If there was a common thread in the speeches made by Umno leaders during the just concluded Umno General Assembly, it must have been the hysterical repetition of 'defending Putrajaya' at all 'COSTS'! BN/Umno appears to be on panic mode as public confidence on the Regime is eroding by the day.

PM Najib Razak will certainly call for a snap General Election within the next 6 months as the longer he waits, the more the support for BN/Umno will erode. The only way Najib can Neutralize Pakatan Rakyat and hence keep Putrajaya in the hands of BN/Umno is to do what his father, former PM Tun Razak did by wiping away Opposition gains in the 1969 GE by declaring a State of Emergency and suspend Parliament at the aftermath of the May 13 Tragedy in which the Opposition was blamed. When the dusts was settled, the Opposition saw itself losing power and Alliance / BN was able to get back to the status quo. It appears that PM Najib may just follow what his daddy did in 1969.

THE PREROGATIVE OF CHOICE

by Goh Keat Peng

This we have to admire about the more established democracies: that there is no monopoly about which party will form the government of any level. The two or more main parties or coalitions of parties have reasonable chance. The people are not saddled effectively with just one choice. In recent times, the world has witnessed a change of government in Britain and just days ago, the house of represenatives in the US has changed hands. Just two years after a very popular president was swept into office, congress is now in the hands of the opposition.

This should be the case in most things in life. An exception being family. We can of course choose who to marry or whether to marry at all. But we cannot choose which family we wish to be born in. This is of course because you can’t make choices before you have come into existence in the first place!

Kak Wan, what do you want me to do with these ballot papers?

In my ‘PKR, and its ballot papers, up for sale’ post yesterday, I had said that I was going to meet an individual last night who had contacted me to say that he was in possession of PKR ballot papers for use in the ongoing party elections, and that he would pass the same to me as evidence of his claim.

In fact, that meeting was scheduled to take place this afternoon, but the individual was extremely concerned that I would be followed and that he might be identified by ‘interested’ parties, and so, at his request, I said that the meeting was to take place last night.

I met him about an hour ago.

He was very nervous.

He showed me a stack of ballot papers. They comprised ballot papers for the post of Deputy Presidency, Vice Presidents and Majlis Pimpinan Pusat.

The ballot papers for the Deputy Presidency and Vice Presidents were all serialised whilst the one for the MPP were not.

He had about 100 copies of the ballot papers in all.

I asked if that was all he had.

He  replied that if I could wait, he could go back and meet me again later at another location with another 1,000 or more if I wanted.

I asked if I could have the 100 or so ballot papers that he had with him.

He offered to give me one of each provided I promised to blank out the serial numbers as he did not want to get any one into trouble.

I asked who those people might be.

He did not want to reply.

I asked him to explain to me how possession of these ballot papers might be used in the elections.
He explained that the central election committee returning officer could manipulate the list of members attending at the ongoing elections, where voter turnout is low, adjust it upwards and stuff additional ballot papers into the ballot box. Worse, it seems that at some elections, there is not even an attendance list to reflect the number of members attending to vote. This makes it even easier to stuff additional ballot papers into the ballot box.

Non-halal food: Teacher hauled over the coals

By Joseph Tawie
KUCHING: A senior assistant of a primary school here who allegedly caned a 10-year-old boy for bringing non-halal food to the school got a roasting from angry Sarawakians.

Politicians – Barisan Nasional as well as the opposition – joined the ordinary people in condemning his act of “religious extremism” and want him punished.

The senior teacher of St Thomas Primary School allegedly caned the boy, Basil anak Beginda, for bringing fried rice with pork sausages to eat in school during recess.

Land Development Minister James Masing said Malaysians must respect freedom of religion as enshrined in the Federal Constitution.

PKR polls: Rivals upset with candidate's tactics

By FMT Staff
UPDATED KOTA KINABALU: As PKR members vote for national leadership for the second weekend today, supporters of deputy presidential candidates Zaid Ibrahim and Mustaffa Kamil Ayub are crying foul over the manner their rival Azmin Ali is conducting his campaigns.

“We are quite concerned with what's happening in Sabah today. We will see how things turn out before deciding what to do next,” said Firdaus Christopher, Zaid's special assistant.
The same sentiments were expressed by Mustaffa's men.

“We want the party to ensure that the election process is conducted in a just and fair manner. Right now that is not happening,” said an aide to Mustaffa.

The race for the deputy's post is fiercely contested among the three candidates. Vice-president Azmin, who has the backing of party supremo Anwar Ibrahim, is leading by about 500 votes over his closest challenger Zaid.