As a new occupant of the Chair in the Legislative Assembly the new Speaker may be forgiven for ignorance but, as with all Speakers, old and new, the invaluable Erskine May is at hand to point the way. There he will find that whenever confidence in the government of the day is questioned on reasonable […]

The danger of success is that long periods of adulation and unquestioned support can lead to the conclusion that one is infallible. That this is not so can come as a shock, as it appears to have come to Dr. Mahathir. PN are in power now for one reason and one only. And that is

Contradicting, inconsistent statements by the Communications and Multimedia ministers and ministry showed that the reasons of JASA RM85.5million allocation may not be as they claimed. Let’s fact check their statements over the past few days. Statement 1: ‘Jasa would not be politically motivated as it was fully committed to engaging Malaysian from all races and

The wheels of justice are proverbially said to “ grind exceeding slow but exceeding small”. That aphorism might have been constructed with the Malaysian court system in mind even though it long pre-dates it. A prominent instance of this lethargy can be seen in the matter of the appeal lodged with the Court of Appeal by

A Malaysian university graduate has been charged in Court with “disobedience to an order issued by a civil servant in contravention of S.188 of the Penal Code. The “disobedience” is alleged to have been failure to comply with an order issued by a junior gazetted officer of the PDRM to stop filming police engaged in

The IGP is widely reported as being of the opinion that photographing or otherwise recording the actions of police officers while on duty can “raise defamations and disturb investigations”. Can he be unaware that the public pay for the police force, including his own not ungenerous salary, and have a right to know how their

A senior PDRM officer is quoted in the Press as saying that the PDRM are investigating an University of Malaysia academic for allegedly making a “controversial statement” about the “role of the Agong”. The latter, according to our stalwart guardians of the law, amounts to “sedition”. If the PDRM lack an in house expert on

Arrest of former UMANY president Wong Yan Ke is unwarranted The arrest of former University of Malaya Association of New Youth President, Wong Yan Ke by a bunch of police officers from IPD Kajang on the pretext of section 186 of the Penal Code is unwarranted. At the outset, it is crucial for us to

Loudmouthed convicted criminal Najib Razak is at it again despite having lost his Assembly seat. A fact that seems to have escaped  the PN Speaker’s notice. The Constitution is crystal clear on the point and if the Speaker lacks the legal skills to interpret it there is a PN Attorney General who surely must be

“Prime Minister Moo has gone on public record as saying that if the “government” allows people to withdraw their money from the EPF they “will face bigger problems in the future” Such as? Permanent dictatorship by PN, with top level support? If people withdraw money they have saved, as they are entitled to do; could

This according to an UMNO member of Parliament. That’s nice to know. Up to now most people thought that UMNO leaders fought for the biggest possible share of public money. Remember Najib? UMNO boss. Or Zahid, his UMNO sidekick and current “President”?  They seem to have done a lot of fighting for themselves and nothing

It takes a genius to discover who is responsible for the current political crisis. Fortunately Malaysia has one in the shape of  UMNO supreme council member Zahidi Zainul Abidin. He has just announced to anyone who will listen that the responsible party is YOU the voter at  the 2018 general election. It might take another

BN politician and former defence chief Hshamuddin is reported as saying that PN Assembly members are discussing whether “there is a need for Muhyiddin to “step down”. If so that should not take more than five minutes to settle. Denied a state of emergency by the very person who appointed him as Prime Minister any

If you are not quite sure what emergency just ask your PN Assembly member. If he too is unsure perhaps ‘PM8’, or even the Agong, could explain it to you. It surely cant be Covid which has been around, ignored by Cabinet ministers, for months. So what on earth can it be? Simple answer. A

Amid the swathes of PN corruption a new scandal has emerged over a  missing billion ringgit from a warship contract. Leaving to one side the question of whether it makes sense to have such ships at all when aircraft could do this surveillance more cheaply and easily it seems that the thieves have been at

The new mantra of the PN Attorney General’s office. No further action against Riza. Nor against other prominent PN personalities. The latest is Covid dodger Minister Khairuddin. In his case the excuse, publicised for no apparent reason by the chief of the CID, is that the Minister was not presented with an official form!  Are

“Ngeh Koo Ham [https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/547275] has hit the nail on the head when he said that the Federal Constitution should not be subservient to the Standing Orders of the House.  The latter are not even considered laws but rules to regulate meetings of the House. If it is otherwise as asserted by Speaker Azhar, then we would

In his latest self justifying tergiversation Speaker Harun has opined publicly that he has been “consistent” on the no confidence motion issue. He now says, unbelievably, that “only Putrajaya has the power to allow any private member’s motion to be debated” As usual he begs the question. The fact of the matter is that it is a

The Constitution is crystal clear on the matter. Najib, having been convicted is automatically disqualified from membership of the Legislative Assembly. No ifs ands or buts. Nothing in the Constitution about appeals, stays of execution or any other legal get outs. If there were such he could use them. But there are not. His conviction

Or are they merely craven robots doing whatever they are told to do by an illegal government?  Press reports about CID questioning of Anwar Ibrahim force impartial observers to ask themselves that question. Among the ludicrous questions reported to have been put to Anwar was one about the level of support for the PN “government”

Something of a mouthful it might be thought but those so thinking should realise that the words are the heading to Section 124 of the Malaysian Penal Code. one subsection of which prescribes twenty years jail on conviction. Anyone with any responsibility for the management of Parliament, be they Member or parliamentary servant must ensure

“In view of recent development which has cast serious doubt on whether the PM still commands majority support in parliament, no business is more important than settling this issue in parliament without delay. A special session of parliament should hence be convened forthwith whereby either a “motion of confidence” by the ruling coalition or a

A Press report states that Bersatu Youth “information chief” Mohd Ashraf claimed that Anwar had “deceived the King” and “ridiculed the Royal institution” by having an audience with the King. He did not specify what he meant; if indeed he knew. One thing is clear and that is that if Bersatu Youth want to be

Press reports state that CID chief Huzir Mohamed has approved the holding of a police investigation into a report lodged by UMNO MP Ahmad Mazlan. According to the CID chief that report referred to a “leak to the public” of a list of names of MPs who reportedly support Anwar. The investigation, Huzir stated, would

Press reports quote PAS  “Minister” Khairuddin as claiming that “gambling and open selling of alcohol” will only lead to “social ills” He is, of course, entitled to his own opinions though why he should think that anyone else should listen to them is another matter. How about Mercedes limousines purchased for PAS bosses with diverted