Jika saya boleh, kenapa tidak Najib: Mahfuz

By Malaysiainsider

Oleh Abu Bakar Rashid

KUALA LUMPUR, Ogos 19 — Berikutan keputusan mahkamah membersihkan namanya yang cuba digambarkan sebagai kaki pukul, Naib Presiden PAS Datuk Mahfuz Omar berharap Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak segera membersihkan namanya yang dikaitkan dengan pembunuhan Altantuya Shaariibuu.

Mahkamah Tinggi hari ini memutuskan syarikat The New Straits Times Press (Malaysia) Berhad melalui akhbar Berita Harian membayar ganti rugi sebanyak RM150 ribu kepada Ahli Parlimen Pokok Sena itu berikutan laporannya yang menuduh Mahfuz mengajak seorang menteri bertumbuk dalam Parlimen.

Mahfuz menyaman akhbar tersebut ekoran laporan muka hadapannya pada 9 November 2000 bertajuk “Mahfuz ajak wakil BN bertumbuk”.

Bagi saya, apa yang penting ialah nama saya dibersihkan. RM150 ribu tak akan dapat mengimbangi rasa malu saya apabila digambarkan sebagai kaki bertumbuk,” kata beliau yang mendapat ganti rugi kedua dalam tempoh tidak sampai setahun.

Disember lalu, Mahkamah Tinggi Kuala Lumpur memerintahkan Utusan Melayu (M) Bhd dan bekas Ketua Pengarang Kumpulan Utusan, Datuk Khalid Mohd membayar ganti rugi RM120,000 kepada Mahfuz Omar kerana memfitnah beliau melalui bertajuk “Demonstrasi — Mahfuz isytihar bersama Keadilan” yang disiarkan oleh Mingguan Malaysia pada 4 Mac 2001.

Sambil menyifatkan kedua-dua keputusan mahkamah itu sebagai bukti bahawa PAS dan pembangkang sering menjadi “mangsa spin” media pro-Barisan Nasional (BN), Mahfuz yakin Najib boleh membersihkan namanya yang berkali-kali dikaitkan dengan pembunuhan Altantuya.

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Can Najib drop ‘Malays’ from Umno?

By Malaysianinsider

AUG 22 — Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak is reportedly trying to get his Cabinet to drop the requirement for Malaysians to state their race in official documents.

This is a positive move but it raises questions about how far the government is willing to go in tackling Malaysia’s principal quandary, and whether it realises how deep the race-related crevices actually are.

Getting rid of the mention of “race” in official documents is the simplest, and most easily-enforced measure the government could take to hint at the direction it wants to go.

The problem is that it is a hint, and measures that merely hint at changes under-rate the enormity of the issue and throw doubt on the establishment’s willingness to force Malaysians to rise above race.

It is a drop in the ocean, and the racial ocean is one that is expanding by the day.

The recent rally against the Internal Security Act (ISA) was perplexingly criticised for attacking Malay rights.

Similarly, the anger against the death of opposition political aide Teoh Beng Hock while under interrogation by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Council, was also spun incomprehensibly as aggression against a Malay institution.

Race has been a growing issue since the early 1900s, and as the British withdrew, we witnessed the rise of parties with names like the MIC, Umno and MCA. The only parties that consciously steered clear of race and religion were left-leaning ones.

Clearly multi-racial parties managed to challenge the Alliance coalitional model of race-based parties in the 1960s. This thrust was however defused after the race riots of May 13, 1969. Several of these parties were quickly incorporated into the coalition, leaving diehards such as the Democratic Action Party championing the multi-racial discourse.

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