vox populi small thumbnail‘It is clear that Najib and Umno-BN can no longer win any open and fair election in Malaysia, and so they have fallen back on the same rotten formula used to engineer the illegal coup d'etat in Perak.’


DPM expects more reps to leave PKR

Onimusha: It is clear that Najib Razak and Umno-BN can no longer win any open and fair election in Malaysia, and so they have fallen back on the same rotten formula used to engineer the illegal coup d'etat in Perak - deploy their MACC thugs on a witchhunt to harass Pakatan reps with potentially problematic backgrounds and combine this with a large bribe to entice the reps to cross over.

A few black sheep within the Pakatan Rakyat fold may indeed succumb to this pressure, but the people's eyes are open and they will not forget nor forgive another transgression of our democratic process by Najib and his goons. There will not be another Perak.

Aaron Nair: This Lunas Adun (Mohd Radzhi Salleh) had a 10,000-plus majority during the last general election. For him to turn his back on the voters who gave him the majority is just plain mischievous. I hope the Lunas constituents will never vote for him again.

His case is just like Hee Yit Foong, who had a large majority in Jelapang, only for her to turn her back on the voters who voted for her. It serves her right when the voters showed their dissatisfaction for her frog-jumping acts.

John Smith: Najib is right, Pakatan have not come forward with a shared set of policies to which all component parties are in full agreement. BN are in the same position; however, the dominance of Umno keeps the related problems at bay.

A coalition needs to be understood by the people as something other than 'not BN'. There needs to be a clear and common manifesto which sets out a single common Pakatan plan at state and federal level.

This also means that the policies and style of government in Penang must be the same as in Kelantan - it must be the same Pakatan policy throughout; not PAS, DAP or PKR.

Gilbert De Souza: PKR at the moment is made up of the good, the bad and the ugly. Those who leave the party after being elected are not imbued in the principles of Pakatan. They do not know what they are fighting for, for them it is a matter of being elected and also for material gains.

Where as members of PAS and DAP are hardcore members, they have been tested and tried. Therefore PKR must pick and choose only those can carry out the Pakatan struggle.


No H1N1 death for three consecutive days

Alphoti: I can't understand. Local newspapers in Sarawak reported two deaths on two consecutive days but the Health director-general is saying no death for three consecutive days. What went wrong here? Isn't Sarawak part of Malaysia?

YoungVoter: I'm currently studying in Australia where there was little fear of H1N1 among the general population because the government took swift and decisive action. Now I fear for my younger brothers and parents back home who are put at risk due to the government's lack of foresight.

Tan Hong Kiet: In June, I accompanied a friend to a private practitioner clinic in Singapore. All the clinic staff wore face mask. All patients and visitors have to take a temperature check by one of the staff. This shows the seriousness of the Singaporeans in combating the flu epidemic. Back home, it’s "tidak apa" as usual until tragedy strikes resulting in Malaysia topping the list in the number of deaths.

Leow Beng Hock: There must be something very wrong with how H1N1 is treated here in Malaysia. Let's take the statistics from Hong Kong, a population of nearly seven million in a congested area. People from all over the world doing business there, a city that never sleeps.

Current cases of H1N1 in Hong Kong - 7,561, death 4. I think we should seek their medical advice of how to tackle this pandemic quickly before everyone dies unattended. Don't wait, you may be next.

Tan Meng Yoe: Why are there only government-bashing letters and comments. While I totally agree not enough is done by our authorities to slow the spread of H1N1, there isn't a single letter here that talks about our responsibilities as citizens to stop the spread.

Do we really stay home when we have a cough? Do we really stay home when we feel a little flu-ish? Or do we go to work anyway because we need to 'cari makan', and let our macho-ness take over?

I always believe that government is blamed for half of the problem. The other 50 percent is us citizens. I know I myself have not been taking enough precautions. So let's not be always so eager to point a finger at others when we're not willing to point at ourselves first.

James Lim: My six-year-old son had A(H1N1) flu in the UK and through computerised self-diagnosis, we were given Tamiflu the next day through the pharmacy the next day.

Self-quarantine is actually recommended to prevent the spread of flu and the Malaysian government should reconsider its strategy to overcome the contagion as soon as possible. The Malaysian government seems clueless about how to manage the further spread of swine flu, typical.

By the way, pigs are not at fault, humans happen to share certain cells with the said animal.

The above is a selection of comments posted by Malaysiakini subscribers.