‘Rest assured that every Sabahan will never forget that you rejected the tabling of the motion to set up the royal commission on illegal immigrants in Sabah.’

On Kit Siang challenges speaker's ruling on Sabah motion

An Immeasurably Angry Sabahan: Dear beloved Ronald Kiandee, rest assured that every Sabahan will never forget what you did when you rejected the tabling of the motion to set up the royal commission on illegal immigrants in Sabah. You said that nobody will vote for the motion to be passed, including the Sabah BN MPs.

It is unbelievable that Sabah MPs would not vote in support for this motion. Why? What, may I ask, is your reason for not supporting this motion. Please don't give me stupid reasons such as, ‘irrelevant’, ‘unnecessary’, ‘pointless’ or other stupid arguments. The fact is you are hiding something. You prove to us that Barisan Nasional is not for Sabah.

To all the Sabah MPs, you must all feel relieved by this for you need not be put in a difficult position of voting against the motion. We will remember you. We have your names. We will not be like before where we say: ‘Apa boleh buat?’ This issue will not be put to rest. We will carry on this fight so that truth and justice prevails.

On Pak Lah, please set retirement date

Peter Ooi: Jeff Ooi is absolutely right in asking Pak Lah to step down the sooner the better.

Apparently it is Tun Dr Mahathir who is adamant in wanting him to resign. But Pak Lah seems to believe that majority of the rakyat still support him.

He fails to understand that those people who hold positions are the ones propping him. They have too much too lose by not doing so. The real sign that Pak Lah no longer enjoys the support was the humilating thrashing of BN in the general elections. Not only its two-thirds majority in Parliament was drastically reduced, it lost control of another four states too. If losing those additional four states is not enough to send you to retirement, I do not what will.

The report rightly pointed out the fact that foreign investment is badly affected by these bickering in Umno, the backbone of the government. With the opening up of Vietnam, India and China , competition for FDI is very keen. Certainly this cloud of uncertainty hanging over the Pak Lah's position will not help in attracting the much needed investment to spur our economy to greater heights. At stake would be thousand of jobs which could help in reducing the number of unemployed graduates.Pak Lah always claims that he always place national interest above self. This is the time to prove it.

SH Huang: I am shocked and disappointed by an MP who advised the PM to set a retirement date. I also found it amusing that another MP had publicly asked the PM to step down. Who are they to tell the PM, or anybody for that matter, to set a date to retire or to step down? Lest readers may think I am a supporter of the PM , I must state here that I am on this issue only, but NOT on other issues, which I shall discuss later. They should not think that they have the mandate from heaven to decide the fate of another. The PM has the majority of MP supporters; and hence has the confidence of Parliament to continue his tenure as PM until and unless he loses that confidence. So, before the scenario changes and the tide turns against him, he is still the PM; and we must give him the due respect of his office.

In the past few weeks, he has been trying to bring in reforms which he had promised but did not deliver. So the voters created a political tsunami . Now he is delivering them. The judicial reform is coming on stream. The royal commission on the Lingam tape has done its job; and the report is out. The AG's Chambers had ordered the ACA to investigate the findings.

Hopefully, the IPCMC will be fully brought in. Watering it down will not do. I always believe that if there is nothing to hide, then there is nothing to hide. The police need have no fear if they do not do any wrong. Only those who commit crimes need fear.

So, let us not distract the PM by attacking him day and night. on the issue of his retirement. Give him time and space to do what is right and just. Of course, attack him on the Hindraf leaders' detention; the ISA; the OSA; corruption; land scams; transfer of state funds and the ‘ wang ehsan ’ (Trengganu) issues. But give him credit where credit is due.

On Wan Azizah finds Ezam's decision 'strange'

Abdar Rahman Koya: I find it strange that PKR president Wan Azizah Wan Ismail finds Ezam Mohd Nor's decision to join Umno as 'strange'. She finds it difficult to comprehend that Ezam was joining "the very institution he has been critical of’. Well, Wan Azizah should be the last person to be surprised. Her husband joined Umno in the early eighties, the very institution which incarcerated him under ISA and against which he had led many demonstrations. So much so that many leaders in Abim and PAS, as well as students leaders, were shocked.

While Ezam's decision to join Umno is personal, one thing for sure is that the Umno he is now joining is much better than the Umno that Anwar had joined, when Mahathir took over its leadership. Moreover, the Umno that Ezam is joining is now cleansed of Mahathir and his diehard loyalists, at least physically, and that some form of reform is taking place. Gone are the days when no one dared to openly discuss about leadership change without getting arrested under the ISA or sacked for committing sodomy in a non-existent apartment!

It is now left to see whether Ezam will continue to remain a loyal party member if the present reform is suddenly halted, or if Umno slides back to the Mahathir-type dictatorial days. Will he remain a member if party leaders undertake another Kampung Memali adventure, or create another judiciary crisis by sacking judges, or engage in Mahathir-type mega projects at the expense of the people's money?

Ezam's joining Umno is not strange. But he should not repeat Anwar's mistake of not quitting at the right time for the right reason. That will be history lessons not learnt. And even that is not strange.

On Mukhr iz accuses Zaid of working for Pakatan

Fergus Ong: Mukhriz mahathir, just because there are BN politicians out there taking the high road doesn't mean that they are serving Pakatan Rakyat. If your values aren't compatible with that of Zaid Ibrahim's - or the people's - that doesn't mean that Zaid is working for the ‘enemy’. It just means that you are irrelevant and out of sync with the heartbeat of the rakyat .

Do not confuse absolute values with party agendas, justice and fairness. The only reason why Pakatan Rakyat looks like they monopolise these values is because BN people like you have no interest in them.

On Malaysia can achieve self-sufficiency in rice if only...

KSN: We, as usual, have learned or are learning nothing from history. My father used to recall the struggles and hardships he and others went through during the Second World War and the Japanese occupation without sufficient food and starvation. The question our government of 50 years should be responsible and answerable to is how come we do not produce enough food for our 26 million population.

We have plenty of fertile soil, rainfall and sunshine and land to produce enough food to be self- sufficient. On this point alone, the BN has betrayed us. Countries like China and India with huge populations are producing enough for their people's needs. India, for example, at one time had a serious shortage of wheat and rice but now after feeding 1.2 billion, exports grains! Our resources were spent and wasted on mega-projects. Will we ever learn anything from our own history and that of others?

DelCapo: I applaud the article. It's time we wonder why are we are self-sufficient in terms of rice.

One of the key questions, indeed, is why do the farmers in the Sekinchan area yield much more than the rest? They are more hardworking? They have better land? Or they don't sell the subsidised fertilisers for a quick profit like some/most other farmers, and therefore resulting in low yielding crops.

Another question is the padi land. Many has been redeveloped, legally or illegally, to plant other crops or even becoming commercial land for other use- again for quicker profits. I'm not an expert in the various laws but I have always been under the impression one of the key principles of the government is to ensure we are self-sufficient for rice, including protecting the land reserved or gazetted for padi farming.

This article should perhaps be followed-up by some learned experts on our various padi legislation. My limited research shows they exist in the forms of the Lembaga Padi dan Beras Negara Act 1971 and Act 47, the Lembaga Padi dan Beras Negara (Amendment) Act 1986, Act a647 and the Control of Padi and Rice Act 1994, Act 522.

Padi is one of our key crops. We should and have to be self-sufficient or seriously look into why we are not. And if we cannot be self-sufficient then we must have a better plan like arrangements with Thailand or Vietnam regarding ensuring our supplies without breaking our bank accounts.

Usha: I fail to understand the assurance given by the government. The price of our staple food - rice - is rising every week. It is true that a bag of rice that was RM20 is now RM30. I simply cannot understand the justification for the price increase. Why is our government not addressing this issue? It is our very basic food which even the poor need for survival. Do we have to wait for a food riot to happen before this issue is addressed?

I hope our politicians will put their heads together and come up with short and long-term solutions to solve this urgent problem at hand. Have sufficient food to feed the nation.

On Islamic group condemns 'sexy' school uniforms

Harimau Bintang: I work on child protection issues and am qualified to categorically chastise Ms Bahari for her very irresponsible and certainly dangerous view of a school uniforms worn by children. Any man whose eyes are lustily drawn to a schoolgirl wearing a white blouse is a pedophile and must be dealt with by the law. Pedophilia is a secular crime, just as murder and rape are. Ms Bahari has crossed many lines here with her statement and the most serious of these is to lend religious credibility to men who hanker after sex with schoolchildren.

If she has indeed noticed men looking at schoolgirls in white blouses then her speech should have contained a warning about their actions. Children under the consensual legal age need protection. Statements made by people in positions of some power that erode this principle of protection are giving pedophiles excuses for their behaviour. Since when did a victim become a perpetrator of a crime because she was wearing a standard issue piece of clothing worn for decades?

While crimes against children are rising in the country, we have stupidity in addressing the problem. Can the able-minded, whatever religion you are, please step forward?

Shah J: Secular humanism, though promising, is unfortunately confined to one extreme end of the bell curve. A society such as Malaysia happens to be an amalgam of various nihilistic tendencies. Secular skewness requires a critical mass which on a practical level is not achievable in Malaysia.

What is left is a reluctant willingness to live in this muddle called Malaysia - racial bigotry and religious biasn will remain the order of the day and Umno and PAS will continue with their brand of fervor. Sadness dawns when I contemplate on such issues. What living strategy should one adopt ? I don't know. Someone please enlighten me.

On KTM loses up to RM188 million a year

Jeevan Supramaniam: Saya mengambil kesempatan di sini. untuk memberi cadangan kepada kerajaan bagi mengatasi kerugian Keretapi Tanah Melayu. Sebenarnya cadangan saya sudah dipraktikan oleh kerajaan kita beberapa tahun lalu. Kerajaan boleh mencontohi MAS untuk memulihkan KTM. Ini dengan memberi laluan kepada seorang tokoh perniagaan seperti CEO AirAsia dato Tony Fernandes untuk membuka sebuah syarikat pengangkutan keretapi dan membiarkan mereka sampai berjaya.

Selepas beberapa tahun KTM boleh mempelajari cara-cara perniagaan mereka dan meniru teknik itu untuk membangunkan KTM Berhad. Sekiranya hasilnya berbuah seperti MAS sekarang, kerajaan boleh mengetatkan peraturan untuk syarikat yang diteladani dan membiarkan mereka menutupnya. Saya harap kerajaan menitiberatkan cadangan saya dengan hati terbuka dan melaksanakanya secara telus.