pywong
16th October 2011, 08:21 PM
bala.chelliah 17th Oct 2011
Berne, Switzerland
Hi folks,
I can confirm that we need to keep working the various campaigns discussed.
Yesterday, I attended a meeting organised by the Malaysian embassy in Berne. Dato Nazri was in Berne for a Parlimentary meeting and he requested to speak to Malaysians living in Switzerland. He wanted to update us on the 'reforms ' that the PM has recently announced i.e
- 1 Malaysia
- PSC and Overseas Voting
- ISA repeal
About 100 odd folks turned up from different parts of Switzerland. He gave an overview on the Govt's reform agenda generally and more specifically covered the 3 points mentioned above for about 30 mins and then he opened it up to Q&A.
It was a patronising speech where he was implying that the Govt was taking the reform route because they felt that after 54 years of independence, the people were now ready for taking on change...hence the Government has started the reform process. No mention that it was the people who are demanding for change and that they are in fact reacting to the rakyat's demand....by throwing out promises but with no clear plan to implement. A summary of the main points I picked up:
-1Malaysia - according to him, it is very simple...there is no one dominant race but we now just start thinking as Malaysians and not as Malays, Chinese or Indians etc...and the Malaysia would be a better place and racial harmony will magically happen!! No new changes to policies,procedures or practices were mentioned.
-PSC and Overseas Voting - Proudly announced to the group that all overseas Malaysians can now vote and also recognising that after 54 years , despite the many clean and fair general elections, the Governement wants to adopt best practices and has appointed the PSC to review the reforms needed! He followed this up by stating that any new changes takes time and there is a very good possibility neither of the above 2 initiatives will be ready for the next election. He did state that the EC is independent of the PSC and that it can go ahead and implement changes that it sees fit before the next election...eg introduce indelible ink. So it implies, that the EC has some room to manevour and therefore the campaign both by MOV and Bersih 2.0 recent campaign has to be intensified.
-ISA and 2 other restrictive acts to be repealed - he agreed that the ISA was dracanion act and it was the mother of all evil acts...but stated that it was an act left over from colonial rule and the govt used it to contain terrorist!! But now, the Govt was to enact new laws to take account of the current security status of the country. Again, he followed up by stating that any changes will take time and this repeal will not happen overnight as there is no follow up act to replace it yet.
So bottom line, it was a party political speech with no promises of when these reforms will take place. He then opened it up to questions.
To the credit of the atttendees made up of all races, one after another stood up to ask pertinent and relevant questions e.g
- an older Malay gentleman called Ahmad asked why does the govt still continue with the special Bumi policy and that he has great difficulty defending it with his Swiss friends and colleagues. To which that the govt needs time to make any changes as it is meant to help raise the standards of the under privileged Malays and East Malaysians. Also only when enlightened Malays rise up to question it can the Govt respond. To which I posed him the question, why cannot this policy be enlarged to include ALL marginalised communities and not only the Malays.His response did not attempt to answer the question posed.
- An Indian lady questioned the unfairness in the issue of PSD scholarships and told that she had to wait 4 years to get hers. They said that they are taking steps to improve the process but it takes time. She also stated that she hopes that she will not be arrested when she returns to KL next time for making statements about the govt's unfair policies.
The YB assurred her that the spirit of ISA repeal is being implemented and no one will be arrested for speaking their mind.
- A young Malay gentleman questioned why students are not allowed to participate in politics whereas in Switzerland this is encouraged. He gave the standard out of date response...students should concentrate on studies only as they are funded by the taxpayers and not be distracted. He and the rest of the govt obviously do not realise that
todays students are a different breed from the old days.
- A young Chinese professional stated that unless fiarness and equality is introduced in the Malaysian system, no amount of dangling cash and car incentives will work to bring
Malaysians back.To which, the YB replied that firstly he also does not agree to the method currently practiced but more importantly,he and many in the Govt are not concerned if Malaysians do not want to return. Apparently, the Govt does not see a brain drain and they are happy with the numbers returning after their studies.
- The bad state of the national education system was questioned by quite a few..and the tendency of many students to attend Chinese schools where the standards are higher.To which the YB stated that the Govt is happy with the results of the Nat Govt Schools and that the country has an intelligent student population where many more students are getting 9 As and the local Unis cannot cope with it. The Deputy Edu minister was there and he proudly stated that the country has 30B RM budgeted on education and they are offering many cash incentives for students to support them in lunches and books etc..
- An employee from the embassy praised the reforms and that they are looking forward to the changes promised.
Bottom line..
the audience brought out their concerns and the current issues but the responses did not attempt to answer the root issues. Dato Nazri is a seasoned politician, very articulate and confident so he ducked the salvos very comfortably and without blinking. To the gullible it was a good performance..for the seasoned. same old message.
Anyway, before the close of the meeting, some of us brought up the overseas voting implementation problems. I stated that the MOV met with the EC and was not happy with the progress so far and requested the YB's aid to progress things. The YB was looking to the Ambassador Dato HO to respond and that point, I stood up and presented them both a copy of the FAQ that we had prepared. I told them that it is important the EC responds to these questions and ALL the embassies are then advised accordingly. I requested that Dato HO to follow up with the EC and to keep us informed of progress.
Finally, I was invited to sit at the same table with Dato Nazri for the lunch so I had the opportunity to tell him that the Govt has raised the Rakyat's expectations with the list of promised reforms. His response was yes, he recognises that and stated ...if the Govt does not change, it will get changed!!
So folks TAKE HEART...BN recognises that the Pakatan will put up a strong challenge at the next election...so we all need to keep working to tip the balance.
Kind regards,
bala
Berne, Switzerland
Hi folks,
I can confirm that we need to keep working the various campaigns discussed.
Yesterday, I attended a meeting organised by the Malaysian embassy in Berne. Dato Nazri was in Berne for a Parlimentary meeting and he requested to speak to Malaysians living in Switzerland. He wanted to update us on the 'reforms ' that the PM has recently announced i.e
- 1 Malaysia
- PSC and Overseas Voting
- ISA repeal
About 100 odd folks turned up from different parts of Switzerland. He gave an overview on the Govt's reform agenda generally and more specifically covered the 3 points mentioned above for about 30 mins and then he opened it up to Q&A.
It was a patronising speech where he was implying that the Govt was taking the reform route because they felt that after 54 years of independence, the people were now ready for taking on change...hence the Government has started the reform process. No mention that it was the people who are demanding for change and that they are in fact reacting to the rakyat's demand....by throwing out promises but with no clear plan to implement. A summary of the main points I picked up:
-1Malaysia - according to him, it is very simple...there is no one dominant race but we now just start thinking as Malaysians and not as Malays, Chinese or Indians etc...and the Malaysia would be a better place and racial harmony will magically happen!! No new changes to policies,procedures or practices were mentioned.
-PSC and Overseas Voting - Proudly announced to the group that all overseas Malaysians can now vote and also recognising that after 54 years , despite the many clean and fair general elections, the Governement wants to adopt best practices and has appointed the PSC to review the reforms needed! He followed this up by stating that any new changes takes time and there is a very good possibility neither of the above 2 initiatives will be ready for the next election. He did state that the EC is independent of the PSC and that it can go ahead and implement changes that it sees fit before the next election...eg introduce indelible ink. So it implies, that the EC has some room to manevour and therefore the campaign both by MOV and Bersih 2.0 recent campaign has to be intensified.
-ISA and 2 other restrictive acts to be repealed - he agreed that the ISA was dracanion act and it was the mother of all evil acts...but stated that it was an act left over from colonial rule and the govt used it to contain terrorist!! But now, the Govt was to enact new laws to take account of the current security status of the country. Again, he followed up by stating that any changes will take time and this repeal will not happen overnight as there is no follow up act to replace it yet.
So bottom line, it was a party political speech with no promises of when these reforms will take place. He then opened it up to questions.
To the credit of the atttendees made up of all races, one after another stood up to ask pertinent and relevant questions e.g
- an older Malay gentleman called Ahmad asked why does the govt still continue with the special Bumi policy and that he has great difficulty defending it with his Swiss friends and colleagues. To which that the govt needs time to make any changes as it is meant to help raise the standards of the under privileged Malays and East Malaysians. Also only when enlightened Malays rise up to question it can the Govt respond. To which I posed him the question, why cannot this policy be enlarged to include ALL marginalised communities and not only the Malays.His response did not attempt to answer the question posed.
- An Indian lady questioned the unfairness in the issue of PSD scholarships and told that she had to wait 4 years to get hers. They said that they are taking steps to improve the process but it takes time. She also stated that she hopes that she will not be arrested when she returns to KL next time for making statements about the govt's unfair policies.
The YB assurred her that the spirit of ISA repeal is being implemented and no one will be arrested for speaking their mind.
- A young Malay gentleman questioned why students are not allowed to participate in politics whereas in Switzerland this is encouraged. He gave the standard out of date response...students should concentrate on studies only as they are funded by the taxpayers and not be distracted. He and the rest of the govt obviously do not realise that
todays students are a different breed from the old days.
- A young Chinese professional stated that unless fiarness and equality is introduced in the Malaysian system, no amount of dangling cash and car incentives will work to bring
Malaysians back.To which, the YB replied that firstly he also does not agree to the method currently practiced but more importantly,he and many in the Govt are not concerned if Malaysians do not want to return. Apparently, the Govt does not see a brain drain and they are happy with the numbers returning after their studies.
- The bad state of the national education system was questioned by quite a few..and the tendency of many students to attend Chinese schools where the standards are higher.To which the YB stated that the Govt is happy with the results of the Nat Govt Schools and that the country has an intelligent student population where many more students are getting 9 As and the local Unis cannot cope with it. The Deputy Edu minister was there and he proudly stated that the country has 30B RM budgeted on education and they are offering many cash incentives for students to support them in lunches and books etc..
- An employee from the embassy praised the reforms and that they are looking forward to the changes promised.
Bottom line..
the audience brought out their concerns and the current issues but the responses did not attempt to answer the root issues. Dato Nazri is a seasoned politician, very articulate and confident so he ducked the salvos very comfortably and without blinking. To the gullible it was a good performance..for the seasoned. same old message.
Anyway, before the close of the meeting, some of us brought up the overseas voting implementation problems. I stated that the MOV met with the EC and was not happy with the progress so far and requested the YB's aid to progress things. The YB was looking to the Ambassador Dato HO to respond and that point, I stood up and presented them both a copy of the FAQ that we had prepared. I told them that it is important the EC responds to these questions and ALL the embassies are then advised accordingly. I requested that Dato HO to follow up with the EC and to keep us informed of progress.
Finally, I was invited to sit at the same table with Dato Nazri for the lunch so I had the opportunity to tell him that the Govt has raised the Rakyat's expectations with the list of promised reforms. His response was yes, he recognises that and stated ...if the Govt does not change, it will get changed!!
So folks TAKE HEART...BN recognises that the Pakatan will put up a strong challenge at the next election...so we all need to keep working to tip the balance.
Kind regards,
bala