The members of the Assocation for the Improvement of Mass-Transit (TRANSIT) wishes to express their sympathy to the families of those who lost their lives and those who were injured in the recent tragic bus crash at km 443 of the North South Expressway.

Our thoughts, our hearts, and our prayers go out to everyone affected by this senseless tragedy. Every time this has happened and every time we respond to tragedies like this one we always hope that it will be the last time. Sadly, the tragedies never seem to end, and neither does the finger pointing.

As we read the news today, the CVLB is blaming the driver, the bus company, and the police for not taking action to prevent the drivers from operating the buses. This is because the CVLB only has the authority to cancel permits and not to enforce road rules or laws. The Road Transport Department will make excuses about why the Public Service Vehicle licenses were not withdrawn - despite the unsettled summonses. The police will probably say that it was someone else’s responsibility to check for summonses, and the Ministry of Works and the contractor who helped widen the highway will claim that they have no responsibility either.

After a few rounds of finger pointing the story will be forgotten. The injured will be treated and the dead will be buried and we will all move on and forget about what happened. This is what we did, what we are doing, and what we will do the next time. And so the cycle continues.

The real truth is that they have responsibility and they have shirked their responsibility and people have been injured and some have lost their lives - once again. Sometimes you have to ask if these people have a conscience or sense of right and wrong - if they are even aware of God.

Careless driving, poorly designed roads and unsafe buses run by profit-making bus operators are causing carnage on our roads. Our government seems to sit by and let these things happen without positive, real and long-lasting intervention.

Is life in Malaysia so cheap?

The Consumer’s Assocation of Penang has called for an independent public inquiry and TRANSIT echoes that call. TRANSIT also hopes that the dissolution of the Ministry of Entrepreneur and Cooperatives Development will be a prelude to the dissolution of the Commercial Vehicles Licensing Board - the government agency that has brought the “entreprenurial” spirit into public transport and, together with other government agencies, failed millions of Malaysian road users and public transport users through poor management and inaction.

It is time for the director of the CVLB, Markiman Kobiran to step down and accept his failures and the failure of his agency. It is also time for Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Najib to take real action and fix these government agencies so that these tragedies once again.

And for the passengers on these express buses - please do not be ashamed to tell the driver to drive safely. Tell them “I want to live!” Shout it out loud in the bus and encourage your fellow passengers to do the same. You have the right to safety on the road - the government, the operators and the drivers have the responsibility to make sure that you are safe.
Sincerely

Moaz Yusuf Ahmad

on behalf of TRANSIT

An informal group called, Making Our Streets Safe. Klang Valley Action, which was formed about a month ago is very concerned with the crimes that are happening in our community and yet there does not seem to be pro-active actions by those in authority. Some of us have been victims of snatch thief and violence. We have met and have decided to call for a discussion with civil society organisations and individuals whom we are certain are just as concerned as we are.

They would like to invite you and/or representatives from your organisation to attend our discussion. The agenda is as follows:

1. Welcome and Introduction

2. Briefing on the aims, objectives and purpose of the group

3. Open discussion and actions to be taken

4. Allocation of Tasks

5. Any Other Business

Friends, we, as a group, want a crime free and safe environment for all and we would like to urge the new Prime Minister and the Polis Diraja Malaysia to implement the recommendations found in the Royal Commission Report. They are as follows:

* to launch a sustained nationwide drive against crime and make crime reduction priority No. 1 for PDRM

develop a priority list on crime types in order of urgency and according to geographical demands

* to formulate and implement annual and monthly crime reduction plans

・ develop and strategise crime reduction plans, including involving citizens to play a role in assisting police in crime control

・ formulate a monitoring system on progress in crime control and to develop key performance index for performance assessment

* to allocate more policing resources for crime control

・ increase the national budget allocation for PDRM

・ work closely with other government agencies to “invigorate Rukun Tetangga schemes in areas with high incidence of crime

* to enhance private sector partnership and contribution to policing

・ engage and encourage private sector and business to contribute substantially towards preventive policing

* to develop PDRM research and development capacity

・ develop a strong database on all types of crime to enhance monitoring and evaluation

・ develop a strong research and development capacity to do practical research to strengthen policing methods against crime.

The details for the discussion are as follows:

Date: Friday, 24 April 2004

Tel: 603 – 77844977 (Contact Person: Jiuan or Mary)

Please feel free to bring your friends who are interested in our cause.

Selamat Tahun Baru - Tamizh Puthaandu dan Vaisakhi!

Hari ini, masyarakat berketurunan Tamil pastinya gembira dengan ketibaan hari pertama tahun baru Tamil atau lazimnya disebut Puthaandu.

Jika di Sri Lanka, masyarakat Tamil di sana meraikannya sebagaimana sambutan Hari Raya di mana yang tua dan dewasa akan menghadiahkan ‘duit raya’ kepada mereka yang masih bujang utamanya untuk kanak-kanak sebagai tanda kemurahan rezeki.

Bagi penduduk desa, hari ini juga diraikan dengan acara ‘arpudu’ iaitu upacara menuai hasil ladang sebagai simbolik bermulanya kitaran baru aktiviti pertanian untuk tahun akan datang.

Saya dan Azizah pastinya berkongsi kegembiraan dan mendoakan agar ikatan kekeluargaan yang terjalin senantiasa kekal dalam kebahagiaan.

Buat rakyat Malaysia berketurunan Tamil yang meraikannya, saya ucapkan Iniya Tamizh Puthaandu Nalvazhthukkal!

Tidak dilupakan juga buat masyarakat Sikh yang meraikan hari Vaisakhi. Gagasan hari Vaisakhi yang menyeru kepada persahabatan dan pemahaman bersama sewajarnya diterapkan terutamanya dalam konteks Malaysia yang majmuk.

Ini juga sejajar dengan saranan Guru Gobind Singh Ji yang mengungkapkan: “Kemanusiaan itu sepadu, kita semua merupakan umat dari Tuhan yang satu”.

ANWAR IBRAHIM

Unusual occurrences on the day before Najib Razak’s swearing-in as prime minister have raised questions on the royal consent to his appointment.

From the time Najib left the palace ground at 1215 hrs on April 2, after an audience with the King, the nation was kept in darkness for seven hours as to whether the King had given his consent to Najib’s premiership. It was not until 1938 hrs that the first newsbreak came from Bernama stating that Chief Secretary to the Government Mohd Sidek Hassan announced that the King had given his consent to Najib’s appointment and that Najib would swear-in at 1000 hrs the next day – which was the time previously circulated by the government. Was it not most extra-ordinary that the nation was kept in suspense for so many hours when the ceremony was only hours away? What was the reason for this big delay in announcement? Was there any problem with the royal consent?

That something was amiss was apparent in the morning of April 2 when then Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi went alone to meet the King, contradicting Najib’s disclosure on the preceding day (April 1) that he was invited by Abdullah to accompany the latter to meet the King for the royal consent to Abdullah’s resignation and Najib’s appointment.

Abdullah arrived at the palace at 1000 hrs for an audience with the King to express his intention to relinquish his premiership. After an hour-long meeting with the King, he uttered only these words to the official media allowed into the palace: “It’s a matter for Tuanku to decide”. He drove through the main gate at 1100 hrs without talking to some 70 reporters gathered there.

Minutes later, Najib’s official car and police escort drove past the palace and arrived at Abdullah’s residence at Jalan Bellamy (located near the palace), where the two leaders met for 10 minutes.

Najib, who was called to the palace, arrived at 1130 hrs to have an audience with the King. He left through the main gate at 1215 hrs and waved to the anxiously waiting reporters through his open window and said “Thank you”, without stopping to talk to them.

STRANGE SILENCE

Thereafter, complete silence – without a word from either the palace or the government on the outcome of the morning’s royal audience given to these two leaders, until Bernama’s statement in the evening.

Observing the above events, we can deduce that

* It must have been at the King’s request that Abdullah went to see the King alone – without Najib. Obviously, the King wanted to talk to Abdullah privately, and the hour long audience indicated that much was discussed about the proposed transfer of power.

* When Abdullah left the palace at 1100 hrs, he gave the impression that the King had yet to decide on his proposed resignation and perhaps also his recommendation of Najib to take over the premiership.

* The lack of positive indications from both leaders after their royal audience and the long silence thereafter indicated that royal consent was unlikely to have been given during the audience. Otherwise, the government would have wasted no time to announce such consent, judging from its impatience to fix the swearing-in time and date, as reflected in several such premature announcements previously.

* Then, when was royal consent given, if at all it was given? What transpired between 1215 hrs (when Najib left the palace) and 1938 hrs (when Bernama reported the royal consent) on April 2?

For a better understanding of what actually transpired on April 2, we have to take note of two important events that took place on April 1.

One, Chief Secretary Sidek Hassan announced through Bernama that before the Cabinet meeting in the morning, Abdullah had an audience with the King, whereby the King consented to Najib swearing-in as prime minister at 1000 hrs on April 3 and the King also agreed to grant an audience to both leaders at 1000 hrs the next day, April 2, for this proposed power transfer. However, at 1954 hrs, Bernama issued another statement saying the Chief Secretary had said his earlier announcement on the swearing-in was premature, and asked for the story to be ignored.

Two, Pakatan Rakyat handed to the King a letter by all its 81 members of parliament, appealing to the King to delay the appointment of Najib as prime minister until many allegations against him were cleared. These included in particular the shocking scandals of the murder of the Mongolian woman and commissions in the purchase of Scorpene submarines, which of late had been well publicized in news media all over the world. The letter stated that premiership being the nation’s top job, it ought to be held by some one who was clean and of unquestionable integrity. It was therefore appropriate that His Majesty delay the appointment till all allegations were investigated by an independent commission and Najib’s name cleared.

ROYAL SECOND THOUGHTS?

Looking at these two events, it is entirely possible that the King could have nodded his head to Abdullah’s proposed transfer of power to Najib early in the morning of April 1, but after deliberation over the appeal by the 81 MPs, the King could have second thoughts about hurrying through the swearing-in the next morning. Hence the Chief Secretary’s late statement to retract his earlier announcement on April 1, and the separate audience - instead of joint audience - to Abdullah and Najib the next morning.

As a conscientious constitutional monarch who takes his role as guardian of the constitution and the country at heart, it is also possible that Tuanku Mizan could be seriously considering a delay to the power transfer to clear matters up to protect vital national interests. But his hands appeared to have been forced by the drummed-up publicity for the imminent swearing-in only hours away via premature issue of invitation cards and a questionable last-minute news release by Bernama, both of these are deemed inappropriate.

Since it is the King who accepts the Prime Minister’s resignation, and since it is also his prerogative to appoint the new Prime Minister, shouldn’t it be the palace that makes the announcement of the King’s decision? Shouldn’t it also be the palace that issues the invitations - instead of the prime minister’s department - for the ceremony at the palace for the handing over of the appointment letter to the new Prime Minister?

Is it not an act of the highest disrespect to the King for the government to issue invitations for the swearing-in of Najib when the King had not even granted an audience to the incumbent Prime Minister to discuss about his proposed resignation? Or is the government taking the institution of monarchy as a mere rubber stamp?

QUESTIONABLE LEGITIMACY

We can well understand Najib and UMNO’s desperation to ascend the premiership in great urgency, since he has already been hyped as the savior of a sinking ship, and any hindrance to such ascendancy could spell disaster, nevertheless, such usurping of the authority and status of the monarch is an affront on our Constitution and serves to further undermine constitutional rule in this country under Barisan Nasional rule. It also gives rise to questions about the legitimacy of the new premiership.

It is an ominous start for Najib as Prime Minister, having just added another baggage to the many uncleared baggages Najib is carrying over to his premiership.

Kim Quek

Kenyataan Media
4 April 2009

Parti Keadilan Rakyat (KEADILAN) mengalu-alukan pengumuman Perdana Menteri Datuk Najib Tun Razak menarik balik sekatan ke atas Suara Keadilan serta Harakah dan membebaskan 13 orang tahanan ISA. Ini adalah hasil desakan rakyat. Dari mula-mula lagi sebenarnya tidak ada sebab Kerajaan harus mengenakan sekatan akhbar tersebut dan menahan tahanan itu.

Pengumuman ini, yang dibuat menjelang tiga pilihanraya kecil pada 7 April akan dilihat sebagai bermuslihat politik dan tidak ikhlas sekiranya ia tidak diikuti dengan beberapa tindakan lebih lanjut. Demi pengukuhan demokrasi di negara ini kami menggesa Najib supaya segera mengambil tindakan berikut:

• tidak membenarkan sebarang tahanan ISA dan penggantungan atau pengharaman penerbitan tanpa sebab pada masa akan datang;

• membebaskan tanpa syarat semua yang masih dalam tahanan ISA; dan

• memansuhkan ISA dan Akta Penerbitan dan Percetakan yang tidak adil itu.

Perlu diingat bahawa apabila beliau mula menjadi Perdana Menteri, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad juga telah membebaskan beberapa orang tahanan ISA dan menjanjikan media yang lebih bebas. Tetapi, semua ini dilupakan dan beliau memilih jalan yang lebih zalim.
Najib hendaklah memastikan beliau tidak akan mengikut jalan yang sama.(tamat)

DR SYED HUSIN ALI
Timbalan Presiden Parti Keadilan Rakyat

____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ __

Press Statement
4 April 2009

NAJIB MUST ACT FURTHER

The Malaysian Justice Party (KEADILAN) welcomes the announcement by Prime Minister Datuk Najib Tun Razak to withdraw suspension of Suara Keadilan and Harakah and to release 13 ISA detainees. This is the outcome of the people’s pressure. From the outset, there was no justification for the Government to carry out the said suspension and detention.

The announcement, made a few days before the three bye-elections on 7 April, will only be viewed as a political gimmick and lacking sincerity if there are no follow-up actions. To genuinely strengthen democracy, we urge Najib to take the following steps immediately:

• stop any future detention under ISA and suspension of publications;

• release unconditionally all remaining ISA detainees; and

• abrogate the ISA and the Publications and Printing Act.

It must be remembered that Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad too, on assuming premiership, released some political detainees and promised more space for press freedom. But not long after, he conveniently forgot these and followed an authoritarian path. Najib must prove that he will not take the same path.(end)

Dr Syed Husin Ali
Deputy President
People’s Justice Party

28 Mac 2009
1 Rabiul Akhir 1430

Mengadap Seri Paduka Baginda Yang di-Pertuan Agong

Al-Wathiqu Billah Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin Ibni Almarhum Sultan Mahmud al-Muktafi Billah Shah

Yang bersemayam di atas takhta Kerajaan Malaysia dengan beberapa amat kebesaran dan kemuliaannya.

Assalamualaikum dan Salam Sejahtera,

Ampun Tuanku,

Dengan hormat dan takzimnya patik sekalian merafa’kan sembah dan berdoa kehadrat Allah Subhanahu Wata’ala, mudah-mudahan Seri Paduka Baginda Yang di-Pertuan Agong sentiasa berada dalam keadaan selamat dan kesejahteraan.

Ampun Tuanku,

MEMOHON PERKENAN UNTUK MENANGGUHKAN LANTIKAN PERDANA MENTERI BARU SEHINGGA NAMA BELIAU DIBERSIHKAN OLEH SURUHANJAYA BEBAS

Patik sekalian mewakili semua 81 Ahli Parlimen Pakatan Rakyat dengan penuh takzim ingin merafa’ sembah mengenai rancangan YAB Perdana Menteri untuk mengadap Seri Paduka Baginda pada 2 April ini bagi menyatakan hasrat meletakkan jawatan dan menyerahkan jawatan beliau kepada YAB Timbalan Perdana Menteri yang merupakan Presiden UMNO yang baru.

Ampun Tuanku,

Jawatan Perdana Menteri ini merupakan suatu jawatan tertinggi dalam negara yang menjadi maruah sesebuah negara. Jawatan yang sebegitu penting seharusnya diberikan kepada individu terpilih yang bersih dan tidak dipersoalkan integritinya.

Baru-baru ini terdapat banyak skandal yang mengaitkan nama YAB Timbalan Perdana Menteri seperti komisyen pembelian kapal selam Scorpene yang melibatkan negara Peranchis. Yang paling mengejutkan adalah peristiwa pembunuhan seorang wanita Mongolia yang dikatakan turut mengaitkan nama beliau. Perkara di atas telah tersebar ke seluruh dunia dan diulas di banyak akhbar dan majalah seluruh dunia.

Oleh kerana perkara di atas begitu banyak diperkatakan dan memandangkan jawatan Perdana Menteri begitu penting buat negara ini, adalah amat wajar sekiranya Seri Paduka Bagida menangguhkan lantikan Perdana Menteri yang baru ini sehingga segala dakwaan berkenaan disiasat oleh sebuah Suruhanjaya Bebas dan nama beliau dibersihkan demi menjaga maruah negara ini.

Ampun Tuanku,

Patik sekalian akhiri warkah yang tidak sepertinya ini dengan sekalung penghargaan ke atas keprihatinan dan pertimbangan Seri Paduka Baginda Yang di-Pertuan Agong. Mudah-mudahan Allah Subhanahu Wata’ala melanjutkan usia Seri Paduka Baginda Yang di-Pertuan Agong dan seluruh kerabat Tuanku dan semoga sentiasa berada di dalam kesejahteraan dan kebahagiaan yang berkekalan.

Amin Ya Rabbal ‘Alamin

Ampun Tuanku,

Patik sekalian dengan segala hormat takzimnya;

Bagi pihak Ahli Parlimen Pakatan Rakyat

YB Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim
Ketua Pembangkang
merangkap Ketua Umum Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR)

YB Dato’ Seri Haji Abdul Hadi Awang
Presiden Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS)

YB Lim Kit Siang
Ketua Ahli Parlimen Democratic Action Party (DAP)