HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS CHINESE NEW YEAR

 

Santiago: ‘It’s substance, not appearances that matter’

Source : Free Malaysia Today

Thursday, 25 February 2010 03:07

By Rahmah Ghazali
Pakatan Rakyat leaders are unflustered by claims that Barisan Nasional is slowly regaining voter support, based on the large turnout at the Chinese New Year celebration in Pandamaran last week.

BN’s ego was even given a boost by long-time Star columnist Baradan Kuppusamy who praised BN for magnanimously admitting its past mistakes while rival Pakatan was accused of becoming increasingly “arrogant”.

Baradan also accused Pakatan of attempting to scupper the BN event by taking down banners and forcing them to change the event venue from Pandamaran by “giving various thinly disguised excuses”.

These were, he wrote, tactics employed by BN before they were punished severely at the 12th General Election. Pakatan, especially PKR and DAP are now becoming unabashedly arrogant because of the constant ‘trappings of power’.

“They used to dress in simple white shirts but today they go about smartly dressed in expensive outfits and with an entourage constantly in tow,” said the columnist.

Despite the Pakatan-bashing, Klang DAP lawmaker Charles Santiago said the people should not evaluate the opposition coalition based on the clothes they wear, but “the policies that are being put forward.

“They should judge us based on our policies and the work we do on the ground. Most of our assemblypersons and MPs are continuing to doing what they have been doing even before we came into power,” he told FMT when contacted.

Santiago also said that Pakatan had never sabotaged BN’s event by taking down the banners and forcing them to move to another venue.

According to him, they only protested against a ‘huge billboard’ with BN leaders’ photos in Pandamaran which was put with the required permit from the Klang Municipal Council (MPK).

“The support structure for the billboard was suspect and could have collapsed in the event of heavy rain. So for safety reasons, we urged it to be taken down.

“(Besides), there are rules and regulations on billboards and it requires a permit from MPK, there was no application made or approval sought to put it up,” said Santiago.

The first-term parliamentarian clarified that the they did not force BN to move to a different venue as alleged but “advised them to hold their function to an appropriate place.

“This was because the venue they chose was not strategic. It was on the side of Jalan Chang Ah Choon and there was no way it could accommodate 40,000 people as reported,” he said.

Don’t label us as arrogant

PKR vice-president Sivarasa Rasiah said it was unfair for the columnist to describe the Pakatan coalition as ‘arrogant’.

“He has made a very shallow analysis. It was as if he wanted to personalise a political movement by labelling it arrogant. This is meaningless,” he told FMT.

Furthermore, said the Subang parliamentarian said political values of the party is more essential compared to emotional values.

“In politics, people know what Pakatan or BN stands for. The question to ask should be, how much has Pakatan done in Kedah, Penang, Selangor and Kelantan compared to the BN government?

“For example, Selangor is more consultative compared to the previous BN administration. The government regularly talks to the people and the local government is much more people friendly,” he said.

Sivarasa also pointed out that Pakatan governments have always prioritised transparency in their administration which he claimed, was never achieved during the previous BN’s tenure.

“The Selangor government especially, have declassified several documents and this is a mark of a transparent government. One should talk about this and not emotional words like arrogant,” he said.

He also defended the ‘expensive, smart clothes’ that Pakatan leaders sport now.

“There is no harm in that if they have official meetings to attend. What is wrong with that? Sometimes people expect us to be well dressed.

“But this does not mean we are arrogant. Whenever we meet senior business people or diplomats, we can’t walk around in t-shirt and jeans, can we?” asked Sivarasa.

BN will win big in the next GE

Despite its self-assured confidence, common folk seem to have a different view of Pakatan who say it has yet to deliver on promises made to them after two years in power.

“I agree that they have become arrogant. BN will win back voters because it has learnt its lesson after having lost so much during the last general election,” said 60-year-old housewife S Renumathi.

The Rawang resident also said the Pakatan representatives in Selangor are not reaching out to those in the rural areas of the state.

“Only the powerful with connections get the things they want. Crime is becoming a major concern in Selangor,” she said.

Renumathi also lamented the lack of concern and service from the representatives, contrary to the promises before winning the seat in the constituency.

“They always have the time to go around campaigning when they want votes but now that they have won, we hardly see our MP in the area,” said Renumathi.

For 61-year-old R Subramaniam who also hails from Rawang, BN will win back the state if the current situation persists.

“They keep pointing fingers at the previous government, but they themselves are practising the same mode of operation,” he said.

However, 25-year-old private sector worker Hisham Hussein from Cheras said that Pakatan leaders are “not arrogant but have become complacent”.

“They simply need to buck up!” said Hisham.

 

Pandamaran folk seek real change, not promises

Source : The Malaysian Insider

By Neville Spykerman

KLANG, Feb 21— Pandamaran residents and community leaders believe Datuk Seri Najib Razak must move beyond rhetoric if he hopes to regain the confidence of the Chinese community.

They lamented at the lack of real change a day after attending the national-level Chinese New Year celebrations hosted by the prime minister in the Pandamaran new village.

“1 Malaysia is just theory to me, there’s been no real action taken,” said Jalan Papan community leader Ang Mah Chai, who campaigned for DAP in the last general elections.

The former Klang Municipal (MPK) councillor who attended the Federal Government’s national level Chinese New Year open house in Pandamaran was responding to the prime minister’s appeal last night for the Chinese community to give the government a chance to prove that it can do its best for the people.

Ang said as long as Umno insists on “Ketuanan Melayu” or Malay supremacy it will not regain the support of the community and this was evident from the lack of enthusiasm at last night’s function.

“I didn’t feel anything and there was just no excitement.”

Ang said the prime minister did not score any points by raising trivial issues about billboards of the event being torn down because the applications were not filled or claiming Pakatan Rakyat (PR) Selangor government had deliberately organised their state Chinese New Year open house to draw people from Pandamaran (picture).

“These are just petty issues which he should have avoided,” he added.

Ang also disputed press reports in the main stream news papers that there were 20,000 or even 40,000 people at the event, adding that Jalan Chang Ah Choon, when the functione was held, could barely accommodate 5,000 people.

Pandamaran resident Tee Boon Hock, who opted to go for the state’s open house at the Dong Zen temple in Jenjarom, said Najib has an uphill task convincing the community, especially the younger generation, why it they should give the Government another chance.

“Talk is sweet but we want to see government institutions and policies being fair to all races.” said the MPK councillor.

Local resident Lim Swan, who did not attend either dinner, said the Chinese community will probably smile and say thank you prime minister but keep what they really feel in their hearts.

“We heard all this before but unless there’s real change its unlikely people here will support BN,” she added.

 

Penduduk gesa selesai isu tanah

Source : Sinar Harian

Source : China Press

Title : 2 Squatter areas’ residents hope PM returns the land

 

Klang folk seek PM’s help

Source : NST

Source : Nan Yang Siang Pau

Title : 170 house owners hope PM brings big Ang Pau to resolve 17 years land dispute

Source : Sin Chew Daily

Title : Pandamaran squatter shifting problem dragging 17 years, “Please give us big Ang Pau”

 

Chance for Najib to come clean in Klang

Source : Free Malaysia Today

Fri, Feb 19, 2010

By Stephanie Sta Maria

KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s attendance at the Chinese New Year celebrations in Pandamaran tomorrow is an ideal opportunity for him to level with the community on contentious issues, say opposition MPs.

Klang MP Charles Santiago said:  “Najib should apologise to the Chinese women in Pandamaran for the recent ‘racist’ statement by his former aide and promise that such an incident will not be repeated.”

Najib’s former aide Nasir Safar had on Feb 1 told a 1Malaysia workshop in Malacca that Indians had arrived in Malaya as beggars and Chinese, especially the women, as prostitutes.

“But more important than the celebration, this is an opportunity for Najib to also address the land grab issue in Jalan Papan and Jalan Bukit Kerayong. People want to hear his views and stand on the issue,” he said.

While welcoming the PM’s visit to Klang, Santiago said he and several of his Pakatan Rakyat colleagues will not be at the event as they had not been invited.

Kota Alam Shah assemblyman M. Manoharan said he would not attend even if he received an invitation.

“Why should I? The fact is that Najib has no place in Selangor. He is not welcome or accepted by the people here and should not be holding a celebration here. He is only doing this to gain Chinese support. ”

Manoharan said Pandamaran was chosen as the open house venue this year because it is the second-biggest Chinese new village in the country.

Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim has said he will attend the Pandamaran celebrations.

 

Pictures : DAP Klang’s Chinese New Year Celebration

Chinese New Year Program which jointly organize by DAP Klang and MP Klang Charles Santiago on 6 & 7 Feb 2010, 8pm – 11pm at MP Klang Community Centre

 

Happy Chinese New Year! 恭祝大家新年快乐！

 

Taktik kotor untuk tumbang PR

Sumber : Sinar Harian

Sumber : Nanyang Siang Pau

Sumber : Sinchew Daily

 

Chinese New Year Card 新年贺卡