For a KLite born in 1960, raised in a working-class family, whose elders are pro-BN and Govt-fearing people; I have always maintained that we need a strong opposition for checks & balance to hold the govt. of the day for accountability. Since I was 21 and eligible to vote, it has always been my right to give my vote to the deserving opposition irregardless of the party. DENY BN 2/3 Majority for a Strong, Meaningful & Upright Opposition! GOD Bless DAP , Keadilan , Pas & Barisan Alternatif! VOTE BN Out of the Government! Vote for Truth , Justice & Peace! Don’t Mortgage Your Children’s Future & Their Next Generations! To ALL the Freedom Fighters & Saviors of Malaysia , I Salute You for Saving Malaysia from Corruption & Oppression! Thanks a million! Cheerio!
Websites - http://search.yahoo.com/search?ei=utf-8&fr=slv1-msgr&p=jeff%20ooi , http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=jeff+ooi , http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=democratic+action+party&btnG=Search , http://search.yahoo.com/search?ei=utf-8&fr=slv1-msgr&p=democratic%20action%20party ,
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JEFF 4 Malaysia * July 31, 2007
This is how I’ll celebrate the 50th Merdeka…
Making a stand for thy love of the motherland…
Picture courtesy Vincent Thian (Associated Press)
Read Rocky’s Bru, SK Thew and TV Smith.
Thank you all for making it to the tea party this morning, ALL-BLOGS, my defence lawyer, those SMSes from near and afar (Holland, Germany, Australia, Penang, Singapore…), those encouraging emails from readers and acquaintances, and old friends who popped up after years of hibernation.
I told each and everyone of them: “A man has to do what a man has to do.”
But the real message, hand on heart is this: “After the journalists had left the place, the photographers packed their gears and gone, hardwork shall begin.”
My political blog is at http://parliament.jeffooi.com.
Hidup Malaysia!
Website - http://www.jeffooi.com/
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Jeff 4 Parliament
http://parliament.jeffooi.com/
We were on the way back to Kuala Lumpur from Bintan last week. Jeff Ooi had just told me his plans to announce leaving Gerakan for DAP, which he did this morning under the glare of the BBC and local tv cameras and almost the entire Press corp, minus two or three mainstream media.
“I am thinking of starting another blog on politics,” he said.
Jeff was asked about this new blog at the press conference attended by Lim Kit Siang, Lim Guan Eng, Nathaniel Tan, Harris Ibrahim, activists, party supporters, well-wishers, and half the protem exco of the National Alliance of Bloggers (Jeff is the vice president of All-Blogs). He said he created the new blog so as to assure his readers that he would not leverage on the popular Screenshots for his new political career. Screenshots draws over 300,000 unique visitors monthly.
Visit Jeff 4 Malaysia. Find out why he has opted for active politics, why the DAP, and why he left Gerakan.
At the do in PJ, Kit Siang called on bloggers to emulate Jeff and to take a stand for a fair and just Malaysia. He came over to me at the end of the function and asked me, point blank. “So when’s your turn, Rocky?”
I have already taken my stand: I will walk with Jeff.
pic courtesy of TV Smith
at 2:56 PM
Website - http://rockybru.blogspot.com/2007/07/jeff-4-parliament.html
Jeff Ooi joins DAP
Tuesday, July 31st, 2007 | 11:43 am @ SK
[UPDATED VERSION] Here you go, press statement by Jeff. Click here for (English) version and here for (Chinese) version.
[ORIGINAL VERSION] It’s now official that Screenshot’s Jeff Ooi joins Democratic Action Party (DAP).
(SOURCE: TV Smith, 31 July 2007)
“Beratnya mata memandang, berat lagi bahu memikul,” that’s how he started his speech.
“As a Malaysian, as a parent for a school-going child and as an advocate of New Media who blogs, monitors, and analyses the trends in digital governance and global competitiveness, I’ve grave concerns for Malaysia,” he said.
Among the few highlights he mentioned:
Think “Malaysian First”
Foster Real Racial Integration
Give us good governance
Wake up to knowledge-based economy
Overhaul education system
Upholding democracy
Equitable distribution of national wealth
Enrich the joe public
Jeff mentioned the primary reason for joining DAP is to help DAP and fellow Opposition Parties right the wrongs of Barisan Nasional.
He did aware that it’s a tough struggle for Opposition Parties, as they’re up against the might of Barisan’s 3M - Money, Machinery and mainstream Media.
Also, he called upon all Malaysians not to give up on this country and urged every Malaysian to bring in new talents and new ideas to run this country.
“You may be disappointed if you fail, but you’re doomed if you don’t try,” he said before he ended his speech with Hidup Malaysia!
I’ll publish the official press release statement by tonight and meanwhile, click here to read Jeff’s latest political blog.
Website - http://www.skthew.com/2007/07/31/jeff-ooi-joins-dap/
SIGHTINGS: an eye on malaysia
Rocket Man
Petaling Jaya, 31st July 2007: After months of speculation by many, he finally announced it himself. Jeff Ooi is now a Rocket Man.
He will be a DAP candidate at the upcoming elections. Hundreds of supporters and friends turned up at Food Foundry in Petaling Jaya to witness Jeff’s transition from blogger to politician. He told me over the phone yesterday that Party Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia — for which he was previously a member since 2000 — was gracious enough to throw him a farewell party. Sweet. No burning of bridges…
Website - http://www.mycen.com.my/sightings/sightings310707_jeffooi.html
Welcome Jeff Ooi to DAP - let it be a catalyst for more bloggers to take political stand
Welcome, Jeff Ooi, Malaysia’s pre-eminent blogger to DAP and Malaysian politics!
Jeff has created waves in the Malaysian blogosphere. We await a tsunami from him in the political arena.
Jeff’s statement of the reasons for joining the DAP is an eloquent expression of patriotism of a Malaysian, illustrating that patriotism is an integral part of all Malaysians and not the monopoly only of those who hold office or high positions. This makes the 50th Merdeka anniversary particularly significant.
Recently, one political upstart said:
“It is the law of the jungle and we need to take action against one ‘monkey’.
“I think the other ‘monkeys’ will also get scared.
“They are not above the law.”
This upstart was referring to Malaysian blogs. Apart from his loyal following, he will not find much agreement from bloggers.
It is regrettable to see the use of such derogatory language and the debasement in the standard of public discourse.
Many however will agree if his description is applied to public and political life, especially with regard to corruption, crime and public accountability and transparency where the rule of law appears to have been replaced by the law of the jungle.
There will also be considerable agreement as to the identity of such “monkeys” in the law of the jungle of public life and politics.
But will any action be taken against one “monkey” so that the other “monkeys” will also get scared and the country can begin to see the restoration of integrity, efficiency and effectiveness in public and political life?
I do not want to use the “monkey” language but this will be one of the challenges of Jeff Ooi, together with others in the political arena, to fight back the creeping law of the jungle and to restore the rule of law in Malaysian political and public life.
It has been said that Jeff Ooi’s decision to join the Opposition is a loss to blogging.
It should not be so. It should be a gain to both politics and blogging in Malaysia, enriching both.
I will like to see more politicians taking up blogging and more bloggers entering politics.
After all, blogging particularly socio-political blogging is not an end by itself but a means to an end and a time must come when bloggers must decide whether they should “dirty their hands” and make the transition from advocacy of their political ideals in cyberspace to enter the political terrain to be able to directly translate their ideals into action.
There is the perception that politics is dirty. It it is not politics that is dirty.. Politics is an honourable calling demanding conviction, passion, selflessness and sacrifice. If politics is regarded as dirty, it is the politicians who make politics dirty. Let bloggers get directly involved in politics to cleanse and rid it of “dirty”, unscrupulous and unprincipled politicians!
This welcoming party for Jeff Ooi to is significant both for Malaysian blogging and Malaysian politics.
It coincides with the 50th Merdeka anniversary celebrations which should be a milestone to assess both our achievements and failures in five decades of nation-building so as to chart the nation’s course for the coming decades. It also takes place in the midst of a “war on blogs” declared by the powers-that-be, demonstrating that the those in power have not come to terms with the influence and implications of the new media.
We are at the end of the fourth year of the Abdullah premiership which had received the unprecedented mandate of 91% of parliamentary seats in the 2004 general election. There is now a full-blown crisis of confidence over the lack of political will of the Prime Minister to honour his reform pledges and agenda to lead a clean, incorruptible, efficient, accountable, trustworthy and democratic administration which is highly competitive to face the challenges of globalisation with world-class institutions like world-class civil service, world-class police, world-class universities, world-class judiciary, world-class Parliament, etc staffed by towering Malaysians.
But we have yet to make a real start in this direction while in many instances, we have regressed and gone backwards.
We, including bloggers, have to pick up the pieces. I call on more bloggers to emulate Jeff Ooi to make the 50th Merdeka anniversary a catalyst for a political commitment to create an united, progressive, democratic and just Malaysia where all Malaysians are proud of the country and can walk tall in the world.
I look forward to see Jeff Ooi and other bloggers taking their places in the next Parliament and State Assemblies to create a better Malaysia for ourselves, our children and our children’s children.
(Speech at the “Jeff Ooi’s Welcoming Party” as member of DAP in Petaling Jaya on Tuesday, 31st July 2007 at 11 am)
Website - http://blog.limkitsiang.com/2007/07/31/welcome-jeff-ooi-to-dap-let-it-be-a-catalyst-for-more-bloggers-to-take-political-stand/#more-427
31/07: Jeff Ooi joins DAP
Category: General Posted by: Raja Petra
Press Statement by Jeff Ooi
Beratnya mata memandang. Berat lagi bahu memikul.
TODAY, on the eve of the month we celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Merdeka, I am making a political stand by joining the Democratic Action Party (DAP).
Looking back at our last 50 years as an independent country, if Malaysia had been a great nation, we should make it greater in the next fifty.
As a Malaysian, as a parent for a school-going child, and as an advocate of New Media who blogs, monitors, and analyses the trends in digital governance and global competitiveness, I have grave concerns for Malaysia.
It is my wish, in the years to come, to participate in the legislative process of Parliamentary Democracy in Malaysia, to share my ideas and to collectively contribute towards making Malaysia a greater country. I hope you, too, will join our clarion call for MALAYSIAN FIRST through DAP.
THINK “MALAYSIAN FIRST”. Counting on the audacity of hope, Malaysia will be a greater nation if only all of us can come together — irrespective of race, religions and cultures – and share a common will to forge forward globally. We are Malaysians. In things we do, we should place MALAYSIAN FIRST as the top priority.
FOSTER REAL RACIAL INTEGRATION. However, this is not the case for us. The major portion of our first 50 years of nation building, and more so since 2004, has been discoloured with perpetual race-based politics. The term Bangsa Malaysia is but a rhetoric that is overly verbalized, but seldom practiced. We should break down the devil of race-based politics from this Merdeka.
GIVE US GOOD GOVERNANCE. The 2004 Barisan Nasional Election Manifesto had failed to address corruption and tainted governance as there are no Big Fish being caught; it had also failed to redeem the damaged reputation of the Police as there is no IPCMC. We are also faced with judicial verdicts which were questioned by the legal fraternity, at best, for being religiously divisive, and at worse, for going against the Federal Constitution.
WAKE UP TO KNOWLEDGE-BASED ECONOMY. Emphatically, in the last four years, the nation has regressed into the pre-Internet Dark Age where repressive tactics and draconian laws, such as the ISA and the OSA, had been arbitrarily used to intimidate proponents of dissenting –- but not necessarily unworthy – views expressed online and via the traditional media. It’s a state of fear, and it curtails people’s rights to foster collective intelligence which is recognized worldwide as the bedrock for a Knowledge-based Economy.
OVERHAUL EDUCATION SYSTEM. The education system, together with the ill practice of talent segregation mooted by imposed discrimination rather than meritocracy, could not help us produce competent human capital that can meet global benchmark relative to the advanced countries. We need a total overhaul of the system, reform the salary structure of the teaching and academic staff, and introduce syllabi that cater for the competitive needs of a globalised economy. We need to nurture professionally-skilled human capital that connects to the outside world, not jaguh kampung.
UPHOLDING DEMOCRACY. Malaysia as a Parliamentary Democracy, Constitutional Monarchy and constitutionally-enshrined Secular State has but eroded over the years. The separation of power that enables the Legislative, the Executive and the Judiciary — the three pillars of government and governance — to operate independently is being compromised. The Executive can now nominate candidates to sit on the Bench. This is the recipe for chaos that we should avoid at all costs.
EQUITABLE DISTRIBUTION OF NATIONAL WEALTH. More importantly, national wealth including those generated through Petronas has not been equitably distributed to benefit the rakyat — comprising the bumiputras and bona fide citizens — while cronies and parties close to Umno skimmed it for their own benefits. Before the oil wells dry up, it’s time we take steps to ensure the rakyat, the actual stake-holders of this country, become the beneficiaries of our national wealth. We have been hopelessly drowned in an infrastructural-development economic model that overly relies on unskilled foreign labour force. This should stop.
ENRICH THE JOE PUBLIC. The worst financially-hit among the citizenry are the unskilled labour, average wage-earners and low ranking public servants serving in urban centres besieged by escalating cost of living. They are the direct victims of long-term rent-seekers who chipped away their earnings through highway tolls. We owe them an improved quality of life while we allow the AP Kings to take helicopter rides from golf-course to golf-course.
That’s primarily the reasons I have decided to offer my services to DAP, to help them and fellow Opposition Parties to right the wrongs of Barisan Nasional. It’s a tough struggle for all of us as we face the might of Barisan’s 3M – Money, Machinery and mainstream Media.
That’s what jolted me whenever I recall the Malay saying, “Beratnya mata memandang, berat lagi bahu memikul”.
Don’t give up my fellow Malaysians. Let’s bring in new talents and new ideas to run this country.
You may be disappointed if you fail. But you are doomed if you don’t try.
That’s how we should observe this 50th MERDEKA. Hidup Malaysia!
If you share the same feelings for Malaysia , as always, please WALK WITH US! Website - http://malaysia-today.net/blog2006/letters.php?itemid=6906
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