Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Talk by YB Nik Nazmi of Seri Setia at Warwick

A forum was co-hosted by Kelab UMNO West Midlands and Malaysia Student Association of Warwick involving 2 speakers, YB Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad (PKR Communication Director) and Farquar Haqqani (UKEC Chairman)

The topic was budget 2011 by the government and there were lots of criticism towards the budget in general. One of issues about budget 2011 that was brought up was Menara Warisan. Nik Nazmi told us the problem with this is that government shouldn't announced the mega project in budget 2011 because it involves PNB and not the government.

The talk however progresses in the Q and A session where students ask questions that are PKR-related as to the issue of Zaid Ibrahim, the status of Anwar Ibrahim, manipulation of voting system in PKR and etc.

As for the issue of Zaid Ibrahim, Nik Nazmi defended the party by saying that Zaid shouldn't be acting like he is. Nik Nazmi mentioned that Zaid failed to attend many party meetings and he feels that every reports or suggestions to better the party should been done in the party meeting closely. He further criticises Zaid as being non-collective by resorting to extreme solution by giving up all his position and criticising the party in public.

As to the issue of voting manipulation Nik Nazmi came to defend the party by saying that it could happen only in isolated cases. Mustaffa Kamil Ayub, candidate for deputy presidential said that there were cases where ballots were sold to other members and this manipulate the voting process. Nik Nazmi said the colour of the ballots are changed every week and this make it harder for people to sell and buy ballots.

Nik Nazmi also stressed that PKR fight is more than 'putting Anwar in Putrajaya', Anwar Ibrahim as he said is only a symbol of injustice done in Malaysia. "If such thing can happen to No. 2 person in Malaysia, imagine what can happen to the commoners?" as said by Nik Nazmi.

Nik Nazmi pointed out, when asked the question of what is the stance for Pakatan Rakyat coalition towards the issue of gambling and alcoholism, that gambling and alcoholism should not be looked upon as the issue of religion only. It involves the threat to social condition in Malaysia. YB emphasised alcoholism and gambling should be tackled widely as it threaten the social condition of Malaysia and the Pakatan Rakyat believes that these problems must be tackled. The problem is the power of authorisation remains in the hand of our Federal Government thus making it harder for the Pakatan Rakyat governed states to stop alcoholism and gambling in their respective states.

The Communication Director for PKR however failed to give a clear answer in regards to the question of what is the status of Anwar Ibrahim in the party and why is he more influential than the president, Wan Azizah, herself.

Personally, I agree to the reform in voting system by PKR where '1 man 1 vote' is introduced as this might help lessen money politics during party election. The talk by YB Nik Nazmi is somewhat agreeable to many extent as an example the problem of gambling and alcoholism. I believe our government should put more effort in reducing the selling of alcohol and restricting illegal gambling operations that are harmful especially to our youths. However, let's hope that this view is similarly shared by all party components in PR because from what I see, not much have been done in Pulau Pinang (DAP) to control alcoholism and illegal gambling compared to what is done in Selangor (PKR).

It is also a good sign to see that Malaysia is going forward to having a two-party system in our political scene as this will ensure healthy competition and gives rakyat the chance to choose which one is the best. Public will benefit more because government will need to do more rakyat-friendly stuffs to win over the people during election.

Ont he other hand, Barisan Nasional, particularly UMNO should take the rising movement of PR, especially PKR very seriously and start to 'berpijak di bumi yang nyata'. It's time to actively engage the people with UMNO. Stop the exclusivity of UMNO and attract interest especially from potential youths cause PR is doing their best to get the best fresh brains of Malaysia into their team. If the exclusive mentality and arrogance in UMNO are not leave behind, it is not impossible to see that one day the public might decide to give a chance to Pakatan Rakyat to have their seats in Putrajaya.

6 comments:

  1. Thank you for your comments. I really appreciate the effort from the Malaysians in Warwick in organising the talk.

    ReplyDelete
  2. pasal gambling tu,penang state governmnet is the first PR state yg banned the sport gambling,followed by other PR state,as for our information..ak xde link plak nk kasi
    erm,psal PKR election tu,byk gler kerja nk bwat,tp tu la,partisipasi demokrasi pada konteks malaysia ini begitu bersifat partisan,di mana demokrasi dibentuk dlm konteks kepartian instead of partisipasi massa...padahal demokrasi itu lebih besar dari parti..pada fahaman aku la..hehe
    n psal skang,kat UK nk raise education fees,ape cter?x join demonstration?hehe

    ReplyDelete
  3. Nik Nazmi: Thanks for dropping by YB. We're looking forward to receiving more political figures from both government and opposition. Hopefully we can succesfully stage a debate-like forum between both sides one day.

    muzikri:
    That's sports gambling bro. What about mesin kuda haram, other illegal gambling premises, alcohol selling and stuffs? I don't know much but I see Selangor (PKR) is trying to do more about these issues. Please enlighten me.
    Demokrasi in PKR sekiranya terus jujur dan transparent boleh membawa kepada perubahan besar di sistem demokrasi Malaysia. They could be making history sekiranya PKR berjaya.
    Education fees tu, berlambak demonstrasi tapi aku tak join secara direct. Setakat baca-baca je. Banyak benda lain lagi nak buat, movements untuk kemajuan Malaysia terutamanya.

    ReplyDelete

Ideas in words by