‘Being neutral, he will work without fear or favour. We must keep our system clean in order to gain the trust of everyone both at home and abroad.’

On Wan Azizah: ACA reforms four years too late

Kaisim: Talking of an independent ACA is useless. It must be seen and done with sincerity. I remembered that during Dr M’s term of office, he would challenge the people to bring proof if anyone claimed that his officers were corrupt. For twenty two years, his men ‘understood’ the message.

Corruption became rampant and incurable in almost every sector of the economy. The Umnoputeras have become arrogant and all tried to get onto the bandwagon to make money at all cost. So, we also have corruption being practiced in political parties.

The world is getting smaller today and people know what we have been doing. In terms of investment, we are no longer the favourite country. But it is better late than never. We must keep our system clean in order to gain the trust of everyone both at home and abroad. For this, the government should employ an good expatriate for the top post. Being neutral, he will work without fear or favour.

On Lee quits Gerakan, rebuts criticisms

GC Tham: Lee Kah Choon, I have to salute you. This what all politician should follow -serve the people and not your political masters. Politicians should take up the people’s interests first and not their own interests.

On PM: Up to Gerakan to decide on Lee

Ganasan Kailasanathan: First of all let me congratulate the Penang state government for appointing Lee Kah Choon from the opposition as the director of PDC and Invest Penang.

The criticisms leveled at Lee and the Penang state government by Barisan top guns seem to impute their immaturity in their thinking and ideology. Despite ruling the country for more than half-a-century, they fail to make a distinction between party and government. Their ideology and thinking is that the party is the government and Umno is the government. They need to discard this thinking and be matured to see the distinction between party and government.

What is happening in Penang is the appointment of an experienced populist from a political party which is in opposition with the elected state government. The Umno government should look at the benefits to society rather than looking at benefits to the party.

Meng: The recent soreness displayed by Gerakan and BN’s opposition parties on the appointment of Lee Kah Choon shows that politics is first for them. The country or the state is secondary. I have always felt that BN politicians love their political party more than the country. Their loyalty is first and foremost to MCA or MIC or Umno and not to Malaysia. It is now evident as we see how the BN opposition leaders criticise Lee over his appointment.

I do not see what is wrong with this state government appointment. It is not a political appointment. It is an appointment to civil service even though it is a PR government. Pak Lah, Koh Tsu Koon and Lim Keng Yaik certainly do not have the country and the state’s interests at heart.

On Suara Keadilan gets permit, sets target

Chloe Ting: While it is a welcome on the part of the Home Ministry in providing the permit, one can’t help wonder why doesn’t the same ministry provide the same generosity to DAP’s publication, The Rocket ? And why was Makkal Osai ’s publishing permit not been renewed?

Is it because DAP members are predominantly Chinese while PKR’s members comprise mostly of Malays while Makkal Osai ’s readers would be Indians? This is most biased and suggests an alignment of Umno-PKR-PAS. Is this some sort of new Malay hegemony with Umno making overtures to PKR to form the new Pakatan PKR-PAS-Umno?

I shudder to think that the permit without restrictions for Suara Keadilan will be the starting point of another Malay agenda all over again, as much as PKR speaks with pride about the multi-racial aspect of their party and the Pakatan Rakyat.

On Pak Lah should press 'nuclear button'

Johnny: From the unprecedented victory in the GE2004 to the unprecedented 'defeat' in GE2008. From winning more than 90% of parliamentary seats to losing five states and a near loss of Parliament if you exclude East Malaysian seats.

Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has gone from the peak of glory to the abyss of shame. This man has made promises which he had no intention of keeping. He has shown himself to be a habitual liar whether on the dissolution of parliament or an impending wedding.

He has been sleeping on the job for the last four years. Asked when he is going to get cracking, his reply is he is still warming up! What he cannot carry out when the electorate gave him overwhelming mandate, can you still expect him to carry out when he is struggling to stay afloat?

His announcements on reforming the ACA and the ex-gratia payments to the six former Supreme Court judges are but pathetic attempts to inflate the life boat for his own political survival and that of his family. The keris have been drawn and the chieftains are baying for his scalp. The sun is setting and it is too late for him to do what he should have done four years ago. The honourable thing to do now is to sail into the sunset on the 'Cobra King'. Adios amigo .

On Author, blogger, activist Rustam Sani dies

Ahmad: I am sad to hear that Rustam is no longer with us. I was in transit in Singapore last week talking about Rustam and Ahmad Boestamam to a friend who is reading Boestaman from NUS closed stacks. What a coincidence. And we thought of getting Rustam's take on Boestamam's work and sharing that with Singaporeans who know nothing of this intellectual legacy. A sad day indeed.

On Rais: Form commission to probe Umno's losses

Charles Hector: A foolish suggestion by a former de-facto law minister. What does he want? A royal commission? Umno is a political party - and if members of the party want to form a commission to investigate why they did so badly this last elections, then it is up to them. Why are you going out there and making a statement to the whole world when it is merely a party matter?

Rais behaves as though the losses of Umno-led Barisan Nasional government is a matter of national concern - a matter of concern for all the rakyat , it is foolish.

It is just a political party - and a coalition of political parties who have stayed way too long in power so much so that even 'wise' former de-facto law ministers get confused and do not see the difference between the party and the government. There is no national tragedy when Malaysians vote for some other political party but not Umno and/or its gang of political parties.

On Karpal tells PAS to drop Islamic state policy

Puan Lyn: Firstly allow me to congratulate Dr Dzulkefly on his excellent performance during the MPF's intellectual discourse last Saturday. I was there enjoying the whole programme and found it to be an eye-opener towards PAS's sincerity in improving this nation. Throughout the three hour discussion, not once did Dr Dzul mention that PAS would push the Islamic state agenda. On the contrary, he agreed with the writer of the book Who needs an Islamic state that the establishment of the state was never mentioned in the Quran.

So why the noise by Karpal Singh? Are you so allergic to the words 'Islamic State'? I thought we shouldn’t 'trust' the mainstream media until they are professional enough in their reporting? Please, we must be brave and gentlemen enough to verify things that we hear or read about everyday. There are many who want to see Pakatan Rakyat become a failure. Let us be more careful and wise before making comments that might hurt our friends.

On Malaysian hypocrisy over Tibet

Malaysia2d: There are numerous Malaysian Chinese associations which are excited to show their support for the Olympic torch run in Kuala Lumpur. No doubt they have freedom to support the friendship between China and Malaysia but it being overzealous to show off the Chinese flag only. What kind of patriotism do they want to show to Malaysians who comprise of many races?

And the number Chinese nationals openly bullying pro-Tibet protestors is an insult to them and also our law. Instead of abiding by our law, they take our law in their own hands by assaulting and bullying people with dissenting views with them. We have to remind Chinese nationals that this is Malaysia, not China. Please respect our law and freedom of speech.

I urge our police to investigate the assault incident and charge those violating our law accordingly, otherwise these foreigners will make a mockery of our law.

Hg Cheah: I disagree with Scott Thong's comparison of Thailand invading Malaysia with that of China and Tibet. The issue of Tibet and China is a complex one and while Tibetans are not Han Chinese, the relationship between the two are intricately connected over many, many centuries. In fact, on several occasions, China was part of Tibet. A Tibetan noble actually conquered Chang'an, an ancient Chinese capital in the 8th century.

Some scholars indicated that Tibet was already part of China during the Ming Dynasty. Historically, many treaties recognised that China and Tibet are One Country; treaties including the one that drew the Macmahon Line (over which China went to war with India but that's another issue). Please look up the history of Tibet.

I was often amazed by the Western media painting only pretty pictures of the Dalai Lama. Although the Dalai Lama is a religious head, he also has his own agenda. One is reminded of how the Tibetan religious institution controls the social, economic and political life of the other 95% of the Tibetan population.