Datuk Zaid Has Been Chosen As PKR's Candidate In Hulu Selangor By-Election

SERENDAH SELANGOR
Wednesday, 14th April 2010

Datuk Zaid Ibrahim has been officially named the PKR candidate for the April 25 Hulu Selangor by-election.

Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim made the announcement last night, to thunderous applause at a packed community hall in Serendah, near here.

During the announcement, Anwar described the former law minister as a man of principle, one who was willing even to give up his ministerial post in order to keep to his stand.

The decision to nominate the former Kota Bharu Umno division chief had been made at PKR’s political bureau meeting earlier today, according to party insiders.

Barisan Nasional, meanwhile, will announce their candidate for the poll on Thursay.

The Kelantan-born Zaid kept his acceptance speech short and succinct.

He thanked his party colleagues for choosing him despite being a PKR newcomer.

“I’m not an outsider. I’ve been residing here in Selangor for a long time. I know the problems here.

“Insya Allah (God willing), with your help, ladies and gentlemen, I can become your voice,” the former senator told the audience.

The Hulu Selangor by-election was called following the death of PKR MP Datuk Dr Zainal Abidin Ahmad late last month.

There are 64,500 voters in Hulu Selangor, with the Malays making up 52.7 per cent of the total while the Chinese constitute 26.3 per cent, Indians approximately 19 per cent and other races at 1.7 per cent.

AGI IDUP AGI NGELABAN

Malaysia is Moving Toward Monarchy With Absolute Power says Zaid

KUALA LUMPUR
Tuesday, 9th February 2010

Former de facto Law Minister Datuk Zaid Ibrahim described the Federal Court’s ruling favouring the Barisan Nasional-led (BN) Perak government as an embarrassment.

“It’s warped legal reasoning. Like I said before these people for political expediency have abandoned legal principles,” Zaid told The Malaysian Insider.

In a 5-0 ruling, the Federal Court earlier today declared Datuk Seri Zambry Abd Kadir as the legitimate Perak mentri besar, ending the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) attempt to regain control of the state which it lost about one year ago.

The five-man panel of judges, comprising Court of Appeal president Tan Sri Alauddin Mohd Sheriff, Chief Judge of Malaya Tan Sri Arifin Zakaria and Justices Datuk Zulkefli Ahmad Makinuddin, Datuk Mohd Ghazali Mohd Yusoff and Datuk Abdull Hamid Embong, also ruled that a vote in the state assembly was not necessary to determine whether ousted Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Nizar Jamaluddin still enjoyed the support of the majority of the state lawmakers.

“BN leaders must be aware that the ruling in Nizar’s case has legitimised the monarchs’ power to dismiss a lawfully-elected mentri besar. Already he has the power to appoint anyone he chooses although not accepted by the party with the bigger majority as in Terengganu. Now he can also dismiss. So what democracy is left?,” said Zaid, referring to the appointment of Datuk Ahmad Said as the Terengganu mentri besar in 2008 despite the opposition from the majority of the Barisan Nasional state lawmakers.

The PKR supreme council member also promised that PR would restore the independence of the judiciary should the coalition comes to power.

Previously, Zaid (picture) had said that the Perak case was key to restore public confidence in the judiciary.

The state political crisis started one year ago when four PR assemblymen declared their support for BN, giving it a three-seat majority in the 59-member assembly.

Nizar later advised the Perak Sultan to dissolve the state assembly to pave the way for state elections but the monarch asked for the PAS man’s resignation and subsequently installed a BN-led government.

Nizar then mounted a legal challenge to Zambry’s appointment and won at the High Court, which noted that there was a loophole in the Perak Constitution to allow for another to be sworn in as mentri besar when the incumbent had not resigned.

In his decision on May 9 last year, High Court judge Abdul Aziz Rahim ruled that the Sultan was not constitutionally empowered to sack the MB, and that Nizar had always been the lawful head of the state government.

But the decision was overturned by the Court of Appeal later that month.

Mupok Aku

Agi Idup Agi Ngelaban

Why Sarawakians Should Vote For Pakatan Rakyat-Zaid outlines blueprint for Pakatan government

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 10 — Datuk Zaid Ibrahim has offered the public a glimpse of a Pakatan Rakyat (PR) federal government by outlining a common platform that includes an anti-discrimination law, abolishing the ISA and relaxing of legislation like the Sedition Act and press laws.

Zaid, who has been given the job of casting in stone common ground for the disparate alliance criticised for having no shared ideology, said a PR administration would also introduce an economic policy with safety nets and a new education strategy to produce more competitive graduates.
“Pakatan Rakyat must firstly unite all Malaysians. We must revive the dreams of Tunku Abdul Rahman and other independence leaders,” he wrote in a posting on his blog yesterday.
The PR alliance has come under heavy attacks from Umno in particular over its lack of a common platform.
Barisan Nasional’s (BN) lynchpin has taken full advantage of open squabbles between PR partners PKR, PAS and DAP to drive a wedge among the opposition parties.
Umno has also stepped up the rhetoric to paint Malay leaders in PR as traitors in well-worn attacks underscoring the right-wing appeal of the ruling party.
With some PAS leaders beginning to blow hot and cold in their commitment to PR, Zaid appears to be also in a hurry now to set down the opposition’s common platform.
In his blog post yesterday evening, the former Umno minister outlined four main areas for PR’s platform:

• To introduce anti-discrimination laws
• To introduce an economic policy with safety nets to protect the lower income group
• To introduce an education policy that will produce competitive graduates, especially among Malay and Bumiputeras
• To abolish the Internal Security Act and the Printing Presses and Publications Act; to relax provisions which give excessive powers to the government in the Official Secrets Act, the Sedition Act and other legislation; to introduce sweeping reforms to the police, courts and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission.
“Pakatan must reject the practice of discrimination. This proposal (to introduce an anti-discrimination law) will not affect the special position of Malays under Article 153 of the constitution.
“Do not listen to Umno’s lies. The non-Bumiputeras have never asked for Article 153 to be abolished,” said Zaid.
He said the proposed legislation would ensure non-Malays are not discriminated against, and that Malays are not discriminated against by the non-Bumiputera community. Article 153, he pointed out, would be maintained.
The former minister, who recently joined PKR, said PR should also introduce an economic policy with a safety net in place for the lower-income group.
“We are not a poor country. In fact we should all live in prosperity if we reduce wastage and leakages because of corruption. Pakatan is committed to wiping out graft.”
PR’s education policy, he said, would also be aimed at making Malay and Bumiputera graduates in particular more competitive by revamp the system to ensure quality teachers and identification of key subjects for improvement.
Another key area Zaid identified for reform if PR came to power was to curb what he said was excessive powers that had been given to government institutions.
“A Pakatan Rakyat government must be free and not instil fear in the public. It must have an open attitude and accept criticisms. This can only be done by establishing a free and democratic government,” he said.
He singled out the ISA and the Printing Presses and Publications Act for abolition.
Other laws like the Sedition Act and the Official Secrets Act would also have their provisions relaxed in a PR administration, he said.
Zaid said widespread reforms were also necessary for the judiciary, police and MACC.
“I believe that when Pakatan Rakyat agrees with these basic aims, the confidence of the public will increase. It will ensure the leaders are busy with these aims and have no time to argue over trivial matters,” he said.
Zaid said that if PR were to concentrate on such a common platform, the public would no longer perceive the alliance as just an “anti-ISA party” but as a coalition with substance.