Mahathir plotting treachery even as Harapan's PM

FMT:

Dr M asked us to find ways to leave PH, says his former aide

Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s former political secretary Muhammad Zahid Md Arip says the former prime minister didn’t want Anwar Ibrahim to become the next PM 

PETALING JAYA: Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s former political secretary today said the former prime minister had asked PPBM leaders to “find ways” of exiting Pakatan Harapan, reducing the reliance on DAP and indicated he did not want Anwar Ibrahim to be PM.

Muhammad Zahid Md Arip said that he was one of the PPBM leaders who assisted Mahathir in bringing the party out from PH, adding that the move was also aimed at reducing the public’s confidence in DAP.

“I had even arranged for several leaders from other Malay parties to meet Tun (Mahathir) at his house.

“Sometimes, their meetings lasted over an hour,” he said in a video interview today.

Yesterday, PPBM secretary-general Hamzah Zainuddin said Mahathir had previously instructed him to look for ways to leave PH.

He said he and other PPBM leaders agreed to Mahathir’s request and “the rest is history”.

Zahid added the meetings between Mahathir and the leaders could not be considered merely as “courtesy calls” but were meetings held to realise the ambitions of the former PM.

“He also said he doesn’t want Anwar Ibrahim to succeed him. I asked him openly about this and he shook his head in response,” he said.

To questions on claims that party president Muhyiddin Yassin unilaterally brought PPBM out from PH without going through discussions, Zahid said Muhyiddin could not make such a major decision on his own.

“The decision to leave PH was discussed at length in the Supreme Council. I can confirm it because I am one of the council members.

“What we did not discuss was forming a unity government,” he added.

PPBM had on Thursday terminated the membership of Mahathir, Mukhriz Mahathir, Maszlee Malik, Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman and Amiruddin Hamzah, expressing regret that they had sat with the opposition bloc during the May 18 one-day sitting of the Dewan Rakyat.

Hamzah also said there had been several complaints lodged against Mahathir, after he declared that he would remain with PH even after the Perikatan Nasional government had been formed under Muhyiddin.

Hamzah said Mahathir had also issued a joint statement with leaders from PH urging for the recent Dewan Rakyat sitting to be extended to more than one day.

Mahathir, he said, had also sought a motion of no confidence against Muhyiddin.

White Trash

Malaysiakini:

White trash, George Floyd and the Malaysian equivalent

by Martin Vengadesan

COMMENT | “The Internet is on fire because of George Floyd.”

“Everyone is angry. My friend said this has only been happening since Donald Trump became president but slavery started in the 1600's so I guess everyone is uneducated.”

That’s what my teenage daughter wrote to me yesterday. In a WhatsApp message from the next room as it happened.

“Yes, there was slavery, segregation and lynching, that’s all part of the US dynamic between white and black people, but I do feel that Trump has been emboldening white racists threatened by the election of the eloquent (ex-president Barrack) Obama and he is speaking their same hate-filled language,” I replied.

I tried not to watch the video because I knew that once I did, I would never be able to forget it. I tried but ended up watching it by mistake and I knew I would have to write this column.

In case you missed it - George Floyd was murdered in cold blood in broad daylight in Minneapolis, the US. It happened just this past Tuesday, May 25. Floyd got into trouble over a fake US$20 bill.

He was handcuffed and taken to a police vehicle. Looking at the video, it looks like he tripped and fell on the way, but the police claimed that he struggled.

What is clear is that while Floyd was handcuffed and lying face down on the road, Derek Chauvin, a white police officer knelt on Floyd’s neck, while two of his colleagues had him pinned down by the legs and the back while Floyd was handcuffed and lying face down on the road. A fourth cop – of Chinese descent – stood by.

This went on for eight minutes and 46 seconds. Chauvin’s knee was on the neck of Floyd, slowly suffocating him. On camera.

Floyd can be heard pleading for his life. “Please, I can’t breathe,” he said over and over again. But the unfeeling racist who killed him doesn’t move. And those were Floyd’s last words.

For the last two minutes and 53 seconds, Floyd was unresponsive. He was pronounced dead soon afterward and Chauvin and his three colleagues were fired.

As I write, I have just read that Chauvin will be charged with third-degree murder.

You know what you are, Chauvin?

You cowardly, cruel, callous, contemptuous Chauvin-ist?

You are white trash. You are a murderer.

You know it in your heart. And the whole world knows it now. You are most likely descended from people who were poor and ignorant – and let me stress that there is absolutely no crime in that.

But what makes you white trash is your racism. Because of your own insecurities and incompetence, you try and find power by brutalising others.

You hide behind a badge which makes it all the more shameful because you are supposed to serve the people.

As I write this, the people of Minneapolis are rioting. Unable to contain their anger at the injustice captured on video.

It’s familiar to me because I was a college student in the US during the Rodney King riots in 1992 when a black man was repeatedly and viciously beaten on camera by white trash cops.

And despite the overwhelming evidence, the cops were freed by an all-white jury. A jury of white trash. The riots followed the unfair verdict.

And by the way, I can’t condone the riots because I was also horrified by the near-fatal beating of Reginald Denny, an innocent white truck driver.

By the way, do you know what an apologist is? Somebody who tries to find an excuse for Chauvin, saying that maybe Floyd was violent earlier. Except that he wasn’t.

Or someone trying to say that all lives matter, not recognising that the Black Lives Matter movement broke out because so many unarmed black men were being killed, very often by the police.

Just before George Floyd, Americans were treated to the spectacle of a white woman called Amy Cooper who tried to leverage racial power during a minor dispute in NY's Central Park over whether or not a dog should be leashed.

She called the police to say her life was being threatened by a black man. Thank goodness it was on video.

That there is a huge injustice going on is indisputable. On Feb 23, Ahmaud Arbery was shot and killed by white trash just for jogging in their neighbourhood. It took three months before they were arrested and charged.

I remember Tamar Rice. He was a 12-year-old kid shot dead by cops for playing with a toy gun in a park. That happened in November 2014. Can you imagine?

Black Lives Matter sprung up because of Tamar, because of Akai Gurley, because of Michael Brown, because of Eric Garner and hundreds of others.

Police brutality carried out by the majority against the minority. It’s not exclusively that, by the way. There are exceptions, like white on white police brutality.

But the former is an undeniable trend, and it should, as a human being, make you angry. Mind you, the murder of George Floyd was captured on video – just think how many others get away with their crimes?

I have chosen to pepper this article with the racist term "white trash". It’s actually not acceptable, but I have used it in this context to specifically target a group of killers.

And also to highlight that even words are unpleasant and add to the heated atmosphere.

I also have a question for you my dear Malaysian reader – is there is a trend of racism in police brutality here? Is there any mirror of the same phenomenon that you can think of in Malaysia?

I’ll give you some clues - lock-up deaths, majority race, minority race, hypocrisy, privilege, no convictions.

Figure the rest out for yourself.

Hongkies have been undeniably batu-api-rised, wakakaka

From Wong Chun Wai:

Fragrant Harbour still raising a stink

idiotic and very seditious dreamers

CHINA’s introduction of security laws is likely to sound the death knell for Hong Kong, at least that’s the general impression.

However, in a case of shooting itself in the foot, the island’s rioters – dubbed pro-democracy protesters – killed its economy through their protests in March last year.

Their year-long rampage has led to the former Commonwealth territory’s worst economic results, which consequently tipped it into recession.

A U.S. Consulate representative (left) receives a letter from protesters as people march from Charter Garden to the US consulate in Hong Kong

From New York Post:

Hong Kong rips ‘radical protesters’ for asking Trump to intervene

Hong Kong’s government warned the US to stay out of its affairs on Monday after thousands of protesters urged President Trump to “liberate” the China-ruled city and called on Congress to pass a bill that would allow Chinese and Hong Kong officials to be slapped with economic sanctions.

It blasted the crowds who sang “The Star-Spangled Banner” as they marched to the US Consulate on Sunday as the “illegal behavior of radical protesters” and cautioned that ​“foreign legislatures should not interfere in any form in the internal affairs” of Hong Kong.

​The throngs of protesters appealed to Trump to “stand with Hong Kong” and “liberate Hong Kong” and make sure that Congress pass the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019. 

Joshua Wong

'darling' of Western (especially US) Press

He played major role in persuading US politicians to pass the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act during the recent protests to eff up his own Hong Kong's trade and economy

The Covid-19 pandemic was the last nail in the coffin and the fresh protests, which began a few days ago, will be the final rites for the ailing island.

So, let’s not kid ourselves into believing that the introduction of laws to stop secession, sedition and terrorism is the tolling of the bells for Asia’s World City.

These laws are, in fact, long overdue, because the HK government had tried to enforce its own security measures.

No government, be it in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia or Canada, would tolerate year-long protests, where forms of violence have included people being bashed, Molotov cocktails employed and shop fronts on main streets desecrated.

Try doing that every weekend at Oxford Street in London and Fifth Avenue in New York, and see if their policemen will just sit back and applaud these actions in the name of democracy.

And if cops even gently patted these protesters to stop, it would constitute police brutality.

It’s not just China tourists who have stayed away from HK, but holidaymakers from many parts of the world, too, especially those from nearby South-East Asia.

No one wants to be inconvenienced by road closures, especially those leading to the airport, or subway stations near protest areas. After all, HK is such a tiny place.

These protesters, encouraged by the West, have driven tourists away and decimated businesses. It’s common knowledge that rentals there are sky high and when operating hours are shortened, it simply means less revenue for business owners.

On the contrary, these new security laws will bring stability and hopefully end this situation once and for all, especially the secessionist and terrorist behaviours.

Why should the US or UK worry, or even care, about what’s unfolding in China, which is often described as the Far East? Yes, HK is that far from them.

If democracy is the focus here, let’s talk about several Arab ally nations that have blatantly violated democracy. The point is, the West seems to turn a blind eye to this because these nations are on their team.

US' 'friends' in Middle-East

It’s mind-boggling that security agencies (like our Special Branch) are forbidden by law to operate in Hong Kong. With the introduction of the law, intelligence gathering on the island will be more effective.

We have seen how a man was torched, a policeman slashed in the neck, an elderly cleaner killed, police stations fire-bombed, subway stations and streets vandalised, and campuses trashed.

On Sunday, a lawyer who heads the Law Society, was beaten up by a mob clad in black at Causeway Bay.

[see kt post: Sorrow of Hong Kong]

Unbelievably, these violent acts have been carried out in the name of democracy.

Not all HK citizens share the view that it’s the protesters who are often beaten up, and it’s acceptable having the names of policemen and their families exposed on social media.

The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has long been stationed in Hong Kong but has confined itself to its garrisons. So, we have a situation where China’s army can’t be used in its own territory because of the potential hysterics that could ensue should armed personnel be summoned to the island’s streets.

So, as the mayhem continues, the police can only politely hold banners to warn protesters to disperse before water cannons and tear gas are used.

No doubt that HK is still important to China since it still has extensive capital controls and often intervenes in its financial markets and banking system, because after all, the island is one of the most open economies in the world and one of the biggest markets for equity and debt financing.

Under the one country, two systems formula agreed as part of Britain’s handover of the territory to China, HK is guaranteed liberties.

These freedoms give HK a special status internationally, allowing it to negotiate trade and investment agreements independent of Beijing. For instance, it doesn’t have to pay the tariffs imposed by the US on Chinese imports.

But the size of HK’s economy is now only equivalent to 2.7% of mainland China’s, down from 18.4% in 1997.

Even with the introduction of these security laws, the elections of HK’s legislative council are not going to disappear.

WhatsApp and Twitter won’t be replaced by WeChat, and freedom of speech will continue to exist.

What most people don’t want is the continuous violent street demonstrations.

HK has degenerated into a state of anarchy with marauding gangsters. Realistically, no government, in any part of the world, will allow such actions to prolong.

The destruction of public property, police stations and shops with home-made bombs are nothing more than acts of terrorism.

The future of HK lies with China. The young can’t change that. Waving the Stars and Stripes and the Union Jack won’t help one bit, and certainly won’t earn them the passports of these countries.

those clowns just want to migrate to Britain or America

and indeed, God save the Queen from them, wakakaka

HK is part of the planned Greater Bay Development Area, including Guangdong and Macau, and the people of the island should take a more positive and realistic outlook on their future.