vox populi small thumbnail'When are they going to understand that we, the people, will not let this issue rest until and unless justice is done.'

Bar: Probe 5 MACC officers for culpable homicide

Cala: Teoh Beng Hock RCI chairperson James Foong has to explain why on earth his conclusion is so vastly different from that of the Bar Council. Please bear in mind the public is on the same side as the Bar Council.

Foong can still be pardoned if he backs his finding with something that any layperson can accept. In TBH case, however, he tries, but there is no logic to his explanation.

He is saying that TBH took his own life after four rounds of ruthless torturing at the hands of the Selangor MACC headed by Hishamuddin Hashim. Hence, after Foong's RCI, no right thinking person will ever ask for any more royal commissions.

Onyourtoes: Please keep the issue alive. It has been days and weeks now, have we heard anything new from the authorities? When are they going to understand that the people will not let this issue rest until and unless justice is done?

Ksn: This is the least the government, the police and MACC can do, especially after PM Najib Razak's promise to the family that justice will be done. What do you say?

To the Bar Council, is there  any provision in the law to bring private criminal charges you mentioned against the five? If so, the Bar should lead the way.

Kgen: There is no difference between 'driven to suicide' and 'homicide'. Suicide is a voluntary action so anybody who drives somebody to commit suicide is guilty of homicide. Charge them!

Raikonen: Let's govern this blessed country by rule of law. Please do not abuse the authority that the rakyat has given you. Do keep in mind that if the rakyat can empower you, we can also strip you of this mandate in the next election.

Where have all the fair-minded politicians in the ruling party gone? Or were they never there in the first place?

Mabuk Kuasa: I would rather suggest that the probe be on six people. The five MACC officers and a Javanese who was a former chief minister of a rich state in Malaysia.

Actually I think the Javanese is more culpable of the death of TBH then the five MACC officers because they had nothing to lose if they were unable get any proof showing that TBH's boss was corrupt.

But this Javanese has a lot to lose because he lost the state to the opposition in 2008.

Lim Chong Leong: Bar Council, recommend charging the Attorney-General Chamber's DPP who demonstrated the art of strangling oneself, too, for contempt while we are at it.

In my years of practice, I have seen clowns in court but that guy was incredible.


Class F contractors out for MCA blood

SusahKes: What we see here - Lim Guan Eng's Pakatan Rakyat government - is that the NEP could truly work. After 54 years of independence, we now know the formula is not wrong; it was those implementing it who had hijacked the cause.

And on a larger scale, we now know that if CAT (competency, accountability and transparency) was implemented across the country, then we have a sure way of turning back the rot from Dr Mahathir Mohamad's time.

We don't need another 20-30 years to achieve good returns from a transparent and efficient system of governance should Pakatan take over Putrajaya; it took LGE slightly more than two years, and Penang has shown everyone - including the Umnoputras - how every genuine bidder can succeed. MCA - cest la vie.

Justice Pao: What Penang Association of F-Class Contractors president Tahir Jalaludin Hassan said about MCA Wanita chief Tan Cheng Liang is absolutely true.

The class F contractors are awarded by the federal government so she needs to bark up the correct tree to find out how many class F contractors are awarded to non-bumis. Currently, cables are not required for all class F contractors to bid for projects below RM200,000 so all class F contractors can do so, whether bumi or non-bumi.

If the bumi contractors are capable, then they should be awarded the contract. There is no need for quota system and everyone compete on merits.

Alan Goh: Tahir said that the best part is when the Class F contractor need not refer to any party's divisional chief for their endorsement and support when tendering for state projects - in short, free of ‘rental collection' unlike the time when BN rules Penang.

This is what an open tender is about under YB LGE (Lim Guan Eng) which is clean, accountable and transparent. Tan is living in a dinosaur era and no wonder MCA is going to be an extinct party with such leadership in Penang.

Borg Kinaulu: LGE is showing Malaysian how the NEP should have worked - where the intended target group of the affirmative actions actually can benefit from it.

And from the experience, build-up competencies and capital, one day soon they will be capable to compete without any crutches with everyone in the world, instead of it being an excuse to channel funds to BN cronies and parties.

Tan, on the other hand, is just doing BN politics 101 - play acting on the supposedly racially divided Malaysian stage with different races competing in a zero-sum game, where only MCA, MIC and Umno can fight for and secure the selfish interests of the races they claim to represent respectively.

Now that the Pakatan state government lead by LGE and peers are showing a better alternative, there's no way they can regain power in these states in the near future, but of course they have the EC, NRD and PDRM fully under their control, so nothing is impossible...

FairPlay: All the BN component parties are capable of only one thing - play the racist card. The nation is now divided with the result that diversity is our weakness instead of our strength. So, what is the difference between Perkasa and MCA?

Now the Penang Malay contractors are happy because they are given an opportunity to compete based on meritocracy and competitiveness, not their allegiance to a particular political party.

I believe the primary goal of the government of the day is to improve the competitive edge of all Malaysians. Pakatan seems to be doing something right by decoupling business from politics. Our Malay brethren will benefit from this shift in emphasis in the longer term.

Louis: The ordinary Malays were treated as 'second' class citizens during BN heydays. As rightly said, to get contracts they must have political connections. Now that this was done away by LGE, they can see for themselves that the system is fair.

On the other hand, non-Malays with political connections like some in MCA or Gerakan, were accorded 'first' class citizenship. They could get things done with ease. No wonder MCA is feeling the heat now that its members are finding hard to survive in Penang

Swipenter: Why PKKM and Tahir of the Penang Association of F-Class Contractors not lambast Umno for labeling LGE as anti-Malay but only MCA for saying that LGE is anti-Chinese?

They must be fair and not be hypocritical when defending LGE's administration against unfair accusations both by Umno and MCA. You cannot pick and choose who to criticise when both MCA and Umno are different sides of the same coin.

 

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