Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Berikan kepercayaan penuh kepada PAS - Datuk Seri Tuan Guru Abdul Hadi Awang

KUALA LUMPUR, 31 Ogos : Seluruh rakyat negara ini diseru memberikan kepercayaan penuh kepada PAS menggantikan Umno untuk memimpin mereka dengan lebih adil.

Menurut Datuk Seri Tuan Guru Abdul Hadi Awang, Umno tidak boleh lagi diberi kepercayaan kerana mereka mengelirukan masyarakat dengan memutar-belit ajaran Islam sebenar dan menggunakan isu perkauman utuk kelangsungan politik mereka.

"Kita menyeru kepada masyarakat Islam untuk memberikan kepercayaan kepada PAS sebagai alternatif yang memimpin mereka dan mengajak masyarakat yang bukan Islam supaya tidak memgambil contoh yang buruk yang ditunjukkan oleh Umno berhubung dengan Islam," kata Presiden PAS itu dalam kenyataan kepada Harakahdaily.

Keadilan PAS jelasnya boleh dilihat sendiri oleh masyarakat bukan Islam semasa pemerintahan mereka di Kelantan, Terengganu dan negeri-negeri Pakatan Rakyat di ketika ini, bahkan terus istiqamah dengan prinsip Islam semasa dalam kerajaan pada tahun 70-an.

Menurutnya lagi, punca kepada kecelaruan yang berlaku hari ini adalah kerana kefahaman salah yang ditunjukkan oleh Umno selama puluhan tahun berkuasa di bumi Malaysia ini.

Sejak sekian lama, Umno katanya tidak pernah puas menjadikan isu agama dan perkauman sebagai senjata ampuh mereka menarik sokongan masyarakat.

Paling teruk apabila tindakan Umno tersebut sering digambarkan kepada masyarakat khususnya Melayu sebagai menepati ajaran Islam yang sebenar.

"Mereka telah mencampur adukkan sentimen perkauman sempit dan mengaitkannya seolah-olah tindakan mereka adalah dari ajaran Islam yang sebenar," jelasnya lagi.

Tindakan Umno itu pula jelasnya disambut dan diangkat oleh media Umno sehingga mereka cuba menggambarkan seolah-olahnya hubungan antara kaum dalam negara kita ini berada dalam tahap yang paling buruk.

Masyarakat Islam jelasnya lagi dikelirukan dari segi fahaman agama yang sebenar, manakala masyarakat bukan Islam pula diadu-domba dengan api perkauman dan ketegangan hubungan kaum.

"Saya ingin memberikan nasihat kepada pihak media yang menggunakan isu agama ini untuk menghentikan tindakan mereka, kerana sebenarnya mereka telah mengelirukan umat Islam dengan kegagalan mereka merujuk kepada Al-Quran dan As-Sunnah yang menjadi sumber rujukan umat Islam sejak zaman berzaman," katanya yang juga Ahli Parlimen Marang.

Sehubungan itu, beliau juga menyeru agar umat Islam meneliti setiap maklumat yang disebarkan supaya tidak diperangkap oleh sesuatu maklumat yang salah.

PAS juga, menurutnya sentiasa konsisten dengan prinsip Islam dan bersedia untuk berdepan dengan semua pihak termasuk Majlis Fatwa Kebangsaan, untuk menjelaskan garispanduan yang sebenar dalam semua perkara yang berkait dengan umat Islam.

'SUPP is scared of Taib'

KUCHING : The Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) is in a quandary – should it continue to support Taib Mahmud as chief minister and the leader of the state Barisan Nasional or not?

“To continue backing Taib will mean losing the support of the Chinese voters. Not doing so will incur the wrath of the chief minister and its members will lose their positions and businesses with the state government,” said an observer.

“SUPP is really in a fix,” he said.

Early this month, SUPP wanted to meet with Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak to exert pressure on Taib to resign or the party would pull out of the state BN.

Meanwhile, Sarawak DAP treasurer Violet Yong accused SUPP of being scared of Taib when it failed to make its stand on his leadership.

“SUPP leaders are afraid of the chief minister and do not dare to make their stand. As a party, it cannot claim to represent the Chinese community because it has lost its credibility,” said Yong, the state assemblywoman for Pending.

“Other leaders of Parti Pesaka Bumiputra Bersatu (PBB), Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) and Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) have expressed their support for Taib’s continued leadership, but SUPP leaders have remained silent.

“The people, especially the Chinese, want to know its stand,” she said in response to a statement by SUPP secretary-general Sim Kheng Hui.

'Not her business'

Sim had accused Yong of being too vocal and that she might be pushed aside the way it was done to Batu Lintang state assemblyman Voon Lee Shan.

“Yong is undergoing a similar situation which Voon faced before he was suspended,” Sim said, adding that he could not understand why Yong had to ask SUPP to make its stand following public support for the chief minister by PBB, PRS and SPDP.

“Like these three parties, SUPP is also a BN component party.

“This is not her business, but BN’s business. I suggest she gives due attention to Pakatan Rakyat, particularly the states it is now ruling.

“There are so many problems in the Pakatan governments and it is time for her to stop directing SUPP what to do,” he had said.

Reacting to Sim’s statement, Yong accused Sim of trying to divert attention away from the real issue – the issue of whether it would support Taib’s leadership or not.

“Clearly Sim is scared of Taib,” she said, adding that it was not Sim’s business whether she was going to be sidelined or not.

“Nobody sidelines me. I am still the DAP state treasurer,” she said.

Asked whether DAP wanted Taib to be replaced, Yong said Pakatan’s aim is to change the whole government, which is already rotten.

“That is our ultimate aim. Whether we can do it is up to the people,” she added.


FMT

Youth power can topple Taib

COMMENT "If the people don't need me, then I will step down." And with that, Sarawak Chief Minister Taib Mahmud has set into motion the oldest political trick in the book. Scan the local newspapers and you will catch the outpouring of support for Taib to remain as the chief minister and leader of the state Barisan Nasional (BN). A fervour of support seems to have erupted from the masses for Taib. They all want to keep Taib at the helm.

It seems without Taib, Sarawak will go the way of the Titanic; without Taib, Sarawak is doomed.

Or so we are made to believe.

Read between the lines and you will see a pattern. The ones who are dancing round the totem of Keep-Taib-In-Power are those directly involved with the many political parties in the state BN.

The leaders are making the statements, and passing these statements off as a blanket opinion that the state's voters are of the same mind too.

The state leaders cannot voice the true sentiment of the people. To do so would mark the demise of their own political reign. And rightly so, since it was Taib who put them there in the first place. As said by Mahathir Mohamad, "What we give, we can also take back."

BN candidates are nominated by the various political parties and endorsed by Taib. The candidates then are voted in by the people and hence are now indebted to Taib for their very existence. There is something wrong with this and it is a fundamental flaw.

The people's vote should be the most powerful element in any democratic government. The whole government is indebted to the mandate given by the people. It is the people who have full ownership of the government. What the people give, they can rightfully it take back. The elected candidates owe the people (not Taib) their allegiance.

So when Taib said, "If the people don't need me, then I will step down," it should be the people who have the right of say on whether they want him or not. The BN component leaders and their various Youth wings should just keep their mouths shut and allow the people to have their say.

Have a referendum and put the vote to the people. Let the people choose the government they want. Let the people decide in an out-right vote if they still want Taib to remain as chief minister.

Time for change

Tall order indeed, especially in Sarawak. The current administration will never allow the people to blatantly speak out their views. Instead, we are treated to cowardly party members making the assumption that ALL the peoples of Sarawak still want Taib in power.

And all this in light of revelation after revelation of Taib's covert activities -- amassing riches for himself and his associates; stripping natives of their customary land rights and Taib's total monopoly of every business deal in Sarawak. It is an open joke in Sarawak that the Taib establishment has its tentacles in every industry conceivable except the funeral industry.

It is high time that the people of Sarawak made it clear that it is time for change. It is time for Taib to leave the scene and for his underlings to accept it. Nothing last forever and this also includes Taib.

It is interesting to note that Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP) has yet to issue a statement (as of the writing of this article) in support of keeping Taib in power and rightfully so.

As seen in Sibu, the Chinese have had enough. Would this translate into a bigger picture when the state election comes round? It would surely be a death note for SUPP to endorse Taib for another term because clearly the thoughts of the Chinese are different from that of their leaders.

But if BN thinks that by winning the Chinese over it has a clear shot at winning the coming election, then it is in for a surprise. The kingmakers for the next election, the ones that can topple Taib, do not belong to any exclusive ethnic group.

The kingmakers are the youths of Sarawak -- educated, young Sarawakians who are capable of judging for themselves what is right and wrong and are not afraid of voicing their opinions.

And it is clear that Malaysian politicians do not have any inkling of the impact of this “hidden nation”. It is a nation of citizens sophisticated in social networking systems, readers of alternative media and who communicates via SMS and chats.

It is one that is fuelled by information, a nation that longs for the ideals of democracy after witnessing the mockery that Malaysian politics has become.

Suffice to say, the growing voice for reform will come from this hidden nation. It will be loud and clear.

Yes, the people do not want Taib. Yes, it is time he stepped down. And to think otherwise, to think that retaining Taib for another term would be beneficial to Sarawak would be pure mockery of the entire democratic process.


FMT