Where To Congregate Before Heading To Stadium Merdeka

Seven marches to Stadium Merdeka planned

4:51PM Jan 10, 2013

Organisers of the People's Uprising Rally are calling on participants to join seven processions towards Stadium Merdeka before the Saturday rally officially gets underway.

According to the latest instructions by rally organisers, the seven rally points for the procession and the respective leaders of the processions are as follows:

Universiti Malaya mosque 
Nurul Izzah Anwar (PKR)
Ng Suee Lim (DAP)
Adam Adli (Solidariti Mahasiswa Malaysia)

Brickfields 
Maria Chin Abdullah (Bersih 2.0)
S Arutchelvan (PSM)
Zulkiflee Anwar Ulhaque @ Zunar (cartoonist)
M Kulasegaran (DAP)

KLCC 
Husam Musa (PAS)
Teo Kok Seong (DAP)
Mazlan Aliman (Anak, PAS)

Jalan Sultan 
Ishak Surin (Muafakat)
Tan Kok Wai (DAP)
Wong Tack (Himpunan Hijau)

Central Market 
Dr Siti Mariah Mahmud (PAS)
Teresa Kok (DAP)
Elizabeth Wong (PKR)

Kelab Sultan Sulaiman, Kampung Baru 
Badrul Hisham Shaharin @ Chegubard (Solidariti Anak Muda Malaysia)

Masjid Negara 
Azmin Ali (PKR)
Muhajid Yusof Rawa (PAS)
Khalid Samad (PAS)

According to political activist Hishamuddin Rais, who is on the organising committee, the announcement of designated procession leaders was requested by the police.
He told Malaysiakini that the organisers will also be heeding a police request not to march from Dataran Merdeka.
Hishamuddin (far right) also announced that organisers strongly discourage the use of private vehicles by rally participants and urged them to use public transport to reach the rally points.

He said those setting up stalls to cater for the participants are only allowed to operate at the Maharajalela monorail station, the vicinity of the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall and the Hang Tuah LRT station.

Once the stadium reaches saturation point, late-comers are required to sit outside the stadium.

He also urged all participants to behave appropriately during the rally.

"This is a peaceful assembly. Please avoid all forms of provocation. Don't create chaos," he said. 

Plight Of Stateless Children

KUALA LUMPUR: Millions of children in Malaysia went back to school this week as the new school year begins.

But many stateless children continue to be denied access to the national school system.

For brothers Hari and Haran, who are deemed "stateless" by Malaysian authorities, their wait continues. 

They cannot enrol in national schools as they have no birth certificates.

The two brothers were believed to be aged four and six when they were found along a highway outside Kuala Lumpur eight years ago. They had no documentation with them.

The Agathian Shelter in Petaling Jaya has been their home since. 

In June last year, Channel NewsAsia highlighted the plight of some of these stateless children in Malaysia. 

At that time, Hari and Haran could hardly speak in English. Now six months on, the boys have grown, and thanks to the good work of some volunteers who home-schooled them, they are now a lot more upbeat and can express themselves easily in English. 

"They said you don't have birth cert, you can't come to school, only boys with birth certs can go to school," said Hari.

Haran said: "I want to go to school, a real school and I want a lot of friends, a lot of teachers to teach me everyday." 

The shelter has been trying over the years to locate the boys' parents.

Under the federal constitution, they can only apply for citizenship if either of their parents is Malaysian. 

Mogan Sivabalan of Agathian Shelter said: "We have published in newspapers at least 13 times, in six or seven major dailies in all four languages, and we still could not find the parents, maybe the parents are not alive." 

There are believed to be some 49,000 stateless children like Hari and Haran in Malaysia who were denied access to national education. 

The Home Ministry has promised to look into the matter but response has been slow. 

Mr Mogan added: "Till today, there's no answer, we are calling the departments, all the people relating to this are not at their desks. I don't know where are they, they are not replying to us, we don't know where it's going." 

He blames the government for turning a blind eye to the plight of the stateless children.

Without an ID, that's required in order to be legally employed or lawfully married in this country, their future remains bleak.

Toxic Waste In Kuantan

RARE EARTH 17 Dec 2012
The Toxic Waste That's Not In Our Back Yard
By Wendy Bacon

Australian-owned company Lynas is quietly shipping rare earth to a processing plant in Malaysia - without a firm plan in place to dispose of dangerous radioactive waste.

If a manufacturing plant involving radioactive materials moved into your community, one of the first things you would ask is, "what’s going to happen to the waste?"

This is exactly how residents of Kuantan on Malaysia’s east coast reacted when the Australian company Lynas announced plans to build LAMP, the world’s biggest rare earth processing plant in their area.

Several years later, they have no clear answer. Indeed last week, while the plant that will use concentrate imported from Lynas’s rare earth mine at Mount Weld in Western Australia was finally ramping up for production, the Malaysian Government and the company were in direct conflict about what would happen to the waste.

On 8 November, after two years of delays caused by court challenges and inquiries, a halt on a temporary licence granted to protesting citizens in September was lifted. Five days later, Lynas secretly moved 100 containers of rare earth concentrate from a depot at Bilbra Lake and quietly shipped them through Fremantle Port. The containers were unloaded and delivered under police escort to the $800 million plant on 22 November.

Read the rest here: The Toxic Waste That's Not In Our Back Yard

Oh, and by the way, the three Kuantan residents have failed their bid to obtain a stay of the government’s decision to issue the temporary operating licence (TOL) to Lynas Malaysia.

The judges at the Court of Appeal upheld the Kuantan High Court decision as “correct in fact and in law" and have now ordered costs of RM20,000 to be paid by the residents.

Half was awarded to jointly to Lynas Malaysia and Lynas Corporation (the Australian side), and the rest to science, technology and innovation minister and the Atomic Energy Licensing Board.

That is Malaysian justice for you.

Dubious Honour Roll

Despite Malaysia's high-profile anticorruption crusade, half of the corporate executives surveyed by a global corruption watchdog believe that competitors have obtained business through bribery, underscoring the hard task ahead for Prime Minister Najib Razak's government in weeding out graft.

Transparency International said Malaysia scored worst in the 2012 Bribe Payers Survey. It asked about 3,000 executives from 30 countries whether they had lost a contract in the past year because competitors paid a bribe—and in Malaysia, 50% said yes. Second on the dubious honor roll was Mexico, at 48%.

Japan ranked as the world's least-corrupt place to do business, with just 2% of respondents saying they had lost out due to bribery; Malaysia's neighbor Singapore was second-cleanest, at 9%. Even Indonesia, with a long-standing reputation for corruption, fared better than more-developed Malaysia: Southeast Asia's largest economy came in at 47%. By comparison, 27% of respondents in China said they thought bribes had cost them business.

"It shows the attitude of private companies in Malaysia, indicating that bribery in the public sector could be systemic and in a sense institutionalized," said Paul Low, president of the Malaysian chapter of Transparency International.

Since taking office in 2009, Mr. Najib has pledged to eradicate corruption and regain public confidence. Hundreds of cases have been investigated. The government has established special courts to hear corruption cases and is working to introduce harsher punishment, said Ravindran Devagunam, director of corruption prevention at government think-tank Pemandu. The body reports to the prime minister's department.

Read the rest: http://blogs.wsj.com/searealtime/2012/12/11/malaysia-tops-bribery-table/

With Lynas and other issues that clearly violate the nation's best interests, is it any wonder?

These Are Signs

It looks like Barisan Nasional know that this is going to be a tough fight.

They're going to go down fighting at least, by bringing in the big guns like the ex Premier.

The question is, does Old Nyanyuk still have clout?

Mahathir Mohamad, Malaysia's longest- serving leader, will hit the campaign trail to help Prime Minister Najib Razak's ruling coalition win a 13th straight general election after sitting out during the 2008 vote.

"I have promised that I will campaign," Mahathir, 87, said in a Dec. 5 interview in Putrajaya, Malaysia's administrative center near Kuala Lumpur. "I don't know whether I have enough influence or not, but I think people still remember me."

I remember you, mate. But not for reasons you will like.

Banal Talk

From Washington Post:

GLASS HALF EMPTY: Malaysia’s leader warned voters that their country risks economic collapse if the opposition wins national elections that must be held by mid-2013.

PARTY’S ON: Prime Minister Najib Razak opened his ruling party’s annual congress with a forceful speech urging supporters to brace for what is expected to be one of Malaysia’s most intensely fought elections since independence from Britain in 1957. Najib’s United Malays National Organization is determined to reverse setbacks from 2008 polls that triggered the multiethnic government coalition’s worst performance in more than five decades of uninterrupted rule.

THE WAY HE SEES IT: Najib accused the opposition in a nationally televised speech of banking on false promises to sway voters. He predicted the national debt would soar and Malaysia would lose its economic sovereignty

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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10,000 Or 20,000 -- Does It Matter?

Malaysians from all walks of life came out again, in support of Himpunan Hijau's protest against Lynas, the rare earth mining company from Australia.

The crowd was spectacular, and I don't think the organisers themselves expected such support.

TheSun reported a crowd of 10,000 but I have since learned to read into MSM reporting.

I hope the government is listening. We don't want Lynas.

Green Walk Participants Swell to 2,000 in KL

Participants swell to 2,000 as long march reaches KL

Lee Long Hui 5:26PM Nov 24, 2012

DAY 12 - GOMBAK The heavy downpour early this morning failed to dampen the spirit of the Himpunan Hijau marchers, who resumed their journey from the outskirt of Kuala Lumpur today as their numbers swelled to about 2,000 people.

It rained since 5am at Taman Rimba, Gombak, where the marchers set up camp the previous night. Nevertheless, the participants pressed on, armed with umbrellas, straw hats and rain coats.

The marchers kicked off their journey at 8.30am with about 500 people in tow, and the number soon multiplied with more joining in when the rain stopped three hours later.

According to Himpunan Hijau Facebook page, the marchers formed a 2km-long line as they walked towards the capital city.

Some vehicles which passed the marchers repeatedly blew their horn as a show of support.

The team reached the Karak Highway's Gombak toll plaza at around 11.30am after walking 10km, where they took a short break, occupying a small lane next to the toll.

They then continued their journey to their next stop - the former PAS headquarters at Taman Melewar, Gombak.

Fifteen kilometres and three and a half hours later, the crowd got there by late afternoon.

They were welcomed with food and drinks prepared by PAS members.

The marchers will stay overnight in the main hall of the building before making their final leg of their long march tomorrow.

Final 300 metres 'too much'

Speaking to the press at the toll plaza, Himpunan Hijau chairperson Wong Tack said the organisers decided to kick off today's journey half an hour earlier as the rain would slow down the marchers.

In respond to Kuala Lumpur City Hall's requirement for Himpunan Hijau to apply for permission to camp at Dataran Merdeka - the final destination - Wong (left) insisted that the marchers have the right to gather there.

"They should allow citizens to express their view. After all, that's the real meaning of 'merdeka'," he said, adding that the people are not afraid of potential harassment from the police when they finally get there.

The marchers are scheduled to arrive at the iconic Dataran at 4pm tomorrow, where they hope to hold a meeting with members of parliament the next day.

Wong has requested the parliamentarians to walk to Dataran from Parliament House to meet the marchers at 9am on Monday.

According to him, the final 300 metres would be "too much" for those who have already walked 300km over the past two weeks to get to Kuala Lumpur.

"In fact, 9am is considered late... they can see us at 9pm in the evening (on Sunday). That's a better time as the people can then rest and have a nice evening," he said.

 

Join The Green Walk!

Get up from the wheelchair of fear and Walk! Join The Green Walk Now! Dates and Venues :

Saturday 24/11, 7.00am pagi Taman Rimba: Last leg before the Green Walk enters the concrete jungle of KL: the Green Walk will start off from Saturday 7.00pm Taman Rimba along the old federal road from Bentong to Gombak. You can drive your car to follow the buses departing from Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall at 6.30 am to Taman Rimba. All buses are full. no more buses will be booked since it is not possible to do it at this late stage.

Saturday 24/11, 2.00pm Gombak/UIA (near Gombak toll) The Green Walk enters Kuala Lumpur here. Big welcoming party and Press conference to be held. Bring your voices and music! Selangor NGOs will come. Political parties and MPs will come. You can lead the Green Walkeers into the city here!

Saturday 24/11, 9.00pm malamTaman Melewar, Markas Tarbiah PAS: Ceramah by Anwar Ibrahim and Mat Sabu.

*****

Sunday 25/11, 8.00am pagi Taman Melewar, Markas Tarbiah PAS: Green Walkers start off to Kampong Railway in Sentul.

Sunday 25/11, lunch hours: Stop at Kuil Kampong Railway, Sentul

Sunday 25/11, 4.00pm petang Dataran Merdeka: We Are Here! Bring your music and cheers! Green Walkers will camp here. Come in numbers. Dato Bandar Kuala Lumpur is waiting for you!

*****

Monday 26/11, 9.00am pagi Dataran Merdeka: PM Najib and all MPs invited to join the Green Walk to receive The Green Demands. The wakil rakyat come to the rakyat this time! The Rakyat will crawl to Parliament no more!

Come to walk proud! Come to walk brave! Get up from the wheelchair of fear and Walk!

Register To Vote

Just a friendly reminder about exercising your right to vote.

As of 4th June 2012, there were 3.65 million unregistered voters -- and Selangor has the highest number of eligible voters who have not registered with the Election Commission (EC), with the figure reaching 600,000.

Shame on you, Selangor! And you consider yourself an urban state.

Are you amongst those eligible but as yet unregistered to vote? Do you know of someone who can but hasn't yet registered?

Seriously, it doesn't take herculean effort to get to the post office and register yourself. I know, because it only took me 10 minutes.

Don't let civil servants talk you out of registering. Or the politically apathetic. If you don't vote, you frankly don't matter to the powers that be.

If you don't vote because you're disappointed with your choices, disgusted by tactics like lying and spin, or merely turned off by the process, you've opted out of the marketplace.

The goal of political marketers isn't to get you to vote. Their goal is to get more votes than the other guy. So they obsess about pleasing those that vote. Everyone else is invisible.

Read the rest HERE because it really is a good piece.

And then go register now and get every unregistered voter you know to do the same, if we are to have a chance for change in the 13th General Election.

And when you're done with that, perhaps a month or two later, you should probably look up this website to check if you've been properly registered.